Star Wars: White Snow: Reputation
by Vhetin1138
Summary: Book 9: When an Imperial world comes under attack by vicious Trandoshan slavers, Vhetin and Jay are deployed with the mercenary Mandalorian Protectors to help restore order and peace to the planet. Rated T for violence and mild language. See reviews for full synopsis.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Imperial Sergeant Dupens sprinted down the hallway, desperately looking for a place to hide. He looked over his shoulder, his heart pounding faster when he heard the snarling and hissing coming from the hall behind him. He heard heavy, lumbering footsteps right on his tail. He kept thinking, _damn, damn, damn_.

He turned and fired four shots from his Imperial-issue rifle. The bright red bolts flashed into the darkness, ricocheting off the walls before blinking out of existence. His stormtrooper helmet's HUD showed that none of his pursuers fell from the barrage and instead just kept lumbering after him with unnatural speed.

_This can't be happening_, Dupens thought as he raced around a corner, his boots sliding across the slight condensation on the floor. He almost lost his balance and thought, _damn these subterranean tunnels. Where the hell am I?_

He didn't let his guard down as he heard the hissing of his pursuers fade away into silence. He'd seen too many troopers fall prey to _that_ particular trick. It was what these lizards did; they fell back and faded into the shadows before springing on you when you least expected it. He'd seen an entire platoon taken out by the lethal mixture of stealth and aggression these monsters possessed.

His HUD map showed that he was just passing by the barracks when another contact showed up on his motion tracker. It was a friendly this time.

He slowed to a stop outside the barrack's door, shouldering his rifle. He pounded a fist against the durasteel door and shouted, "Trooper! Open up!"

A few moments passed before there was a loud _clank_ from the other side of the door and the durasteel-plated entryway slid open a hair. The contoured faceplate of a helmet peeked through the gap and a vocoder-enhanced voice whispered, "Sarge? Is that you?"

He sighed in relief and said, "Taylor. Am I glad to see you."

"Are there any of those… _things_ behind you?"

He glanced over his shoulder, scanning the hall for any life signs. There were none that his HUD systems could pick up. Eventually he shook his head and said, "I don't think so."

Private Taylor nodded and the door slid open the rest of the way. Dupens saw that the trooper was a mess. His armor was pocked with burn scars and splattered with pale green blood. His left eye visor was cracked in a thin spiderweb pattern and his right shoulder guard was a burnt and twisted mess of plastoid.

"What happened?" Dupens muttered as he stepped into the barracks. He quickly assessed the situation: two other stormtroopers, not in much better shape than Private Taylor, both armed with only their short-range sidearms, and four DC longrifles left in the rack along one wall.

Taylor hit the closing stud on the door and it slid shut with a reassuringly loud _boom_. He double-checked that it was secure, then turned to the Sergeant and said, "We were attacked shortly after the power went out. Six of 'em. Big karking lizards using… I don't know, projectile weapons."

Dupens nodded, having experienced something similar himself. "What happened to the rest of your unit?"

"Scattered," Taylor replied. "Dead, for all I know. Those lizards aren't much for mercy."

Dupens nodded, still surveying the room. "Okay. What about reinforcements?"

Taylor shook his head. "I don't know. From what we've been able to piece together, the outside isn't doing much better than we are in here. We've had no contact from any other Imperial forces or from the _Importunate_ in orbit. We think these lizards are jamming our comms to the outside world."

"What about ammunition? What kinds of weapons do we still have at our disposal?"

"Basically what you see," Taylor said, gesturing to the rest of the barracks. "Two pistols, four Deecees, about twelve frag grenades and three plasmas. Apart from that we have a single rocket launcher and a half-loaded rotary blaster cannon."

"In other words, we're borked," one of the troopers muttered. "We barely have enough artillery to take out a group of pipe rats, let alone these monsters."

"Stow the complaining, soldier," Dupens muttered. "We need to figure out a way to get a message to the space station. We can't organize anything until we contact Command."

"What the hell kind of message are we going to send?" Taylor said. "If we send out a regulation distress signal they're going to send an investigative team in here first. And they're going to be about as helpful against these things as a flyswatter is against a rancor."

"We can't send a regulation signal," Dupens agreed. "There's too many of these lizards. We need Command to send in specialists. People who know how to deal with threats like this."

"Are you seriously suggesting what I think you are?"

Dupens shrugged. "I'm just a dumb grunt. But I'm smart enough to know when stormtroopers are outmatched."

"Come on, Sarge," Taylor said. "They're barely better than _pirates_. What makes you think they'll even agree to help us? They have no love for the Empire."

"Then we're screwed whether or not we send the transmission," Dupens growled, pulling out his rifle's magazine and inspecting the tibanna charge. He shook his head with a sigh and slapped it back into the rifle's housing. "It's the best chance we've got."

"Wait," one of the troopers said nervously. "We're not going back out there, are we?"

"Does it look like we have any other choice?" Dupens growled. He grabbed two grenades from a nearby crate. "Better to go down swinging than to stay locked away in here."

"Sarge is right," Taylor said. "These lizards are going to get in here eventually. I say we bring the fight to them."

As if on cue, a loud _boom_ came from the other side of the door. Everyone in the room looked to the door. There was silence for a moment, then another crash sounded through the room and the heavy durasteel door shook in its housing.

"Someone wants in," Taylor observed dryly. "I say we head out shooting."

"Oh yeah?" the other trooper said, clambering to his feet. "And who put you in charge? _I_ don't want to go out there."

"I'm just saying-"

"What you're just _saying_ is that you want us to go out and get ourselves killed. And for what? The hope that an emergency broadcast will even get to the _Importunate_? What if these monsters have set up comm jammers?"

"It's a risk worth taking," Taylor snapped. "Pull yourself together, trooper. Cowardice isn't looked upon with sympathy in this unit."

"Kark you, Taylor," the trooper grumbled, folding his arms across his armored chest. "I'm not going anywhere."

Taylor looked to Dupens for a resolution. The sergeant stared at the trooper for a long time before growling, "We're going to head for the signal transmission booth, so suck it up, grab your weapons, and get ready to move out. That's an order soldier."

The trooper stared at him. Dupens could feel his dismay even though both their faces were shielded by their helmet faceplates. Then the man sighed and grudgingly grabbed a rifle from its rack on the wall.

"After you, Sarge," he snapped, gesturing to the door.

Dupens narrowed his eyes, but quickly gestured for the three troopers to get set for a door breach. They set up quickly, two of them flanking one side of the door while Taylor stood in the center, ready to place an explosive charge on the center of the door. Dupens stood to the right of the door, pulling a grenade from his belt.

"Ready?" he asked. Taylor nodded and pulled a charge from his utility belt.

"Set…" he murmured, typing in settings for explosion strength. "In three… two… one… clear!"

He quickly stepped out of the way of the door, shouldering his rifle. It was only a heartbeat before the door blasted outward with a deafening _blam_ and a wash of flame.

Instinct kicked in. Dupens primed his grenade and tossed it through the door, shouting, "Fire in the hole!"

Three seconds passed before the grenade detonated with enough force to shake the duracrete under the Sergeant's boots. He raised his rifle and shouted, "Go! Go! Go!"

Together, the four stormed out into the hall, firing at everything that moved. Reptilian screams echoed through the hall and light green blood spattered across Dupens' visor, partially obscuring his vision.

He dropped to his knees, firing six bolts into a squat figure charging at him with a roar. The lizard shook off the bolts until Dupens caught him with a fist to the forehead. The monster fell to the ground and didn't move again.

His motion tracker blared a warning and he swiveled, snapping off two more shots. Another shadowy figure fell with a gasp of pain.

"Sarge!" Taylor's voice shouted. "Transmission booth is this way!"

"Affirmative!" Dupens called back. "On my way."

He fired twice into the shadows and two scaly monstrosities fell at his feet. He jumped over the corpses and sprinted toward Taylor and the others. The three were fighting in the middle of what looked like a sea of snarling, drooling lizard-like aliens. As he drew nearer he heard a loud _boom_ and one of the troopers fell.

"Trooper down!" shouted the soldier who had defied Dupens' authority back in the barracks. He fired three rounds into a charging alien's face and began to drag his buddy down the hall.

"Leave him!" Taylor shouted, hefting a rifle in one hand and his sidearm in the other. Bright red blaster bolts flashed from the muzzles of both his weapons as enemy bodies fell all around him. "He's gone! There's nothing more you can do for him!"

"No!" the trooper shouted. "We don't leave people behind! We can't just-"

He was blasted off his feet as he took a spray of projectile shotgun pellets to the faceplate. He crashed back into a nearby wall and slid to a halt, leaving a bloody smear across the floor.

"Sarge!" Taylor shouted as more and more lizards swarmed through the hall toward him. "Some help here would be much appreciated!"

Dupens somersaulted as another shotgun blast rang out over his head. He rolled to his feet, whipping his fist across the back of a lizard's head. The alien crumpled to the ground as he fired two shots into another monster's back. He broke through the mass of swarming, armed lizards to Taylor's side. Heart pounding from adrenaline, he pressed his back against' Taylor's and they slowly swiveled to keep the circle of lizards in sight.

With a chorus of hisses and snarls, the aliens fell back, slouching or pacing back and forth on all fours.

"So what's the plan, Sarge?" Taylor asked. "We're still a ways from the transmission booth."

Dupens pulled his last grenade and pressed the primer button. "On three," he said, hefting it in his hand.

As one, the mass of lizards charged forward. Taylor cursed and shouted, "Three! Three!"

Dupens cursed as well and threw the grenade before turning and sprinting down the hall. There was a blast of blinding white light and a burst of sound that temporarily drowned out his HUD systems.

"Keep going!" he shouted. "Head for the transmission booth!"

"They're right on us!"

"Don't look back! Just keep running!"

The two troopers sprinted through the winding halls of the building, past scenes of bloody carnage, abandoned defense positions, and hordes of snarling, drooling lizards.

"Ten meters!" Taylor shouted. "We're close!"

"Step it up!" Dupens called in reply. He could hear the pounding footsteps of their pursuers right behind him. His motion tracker showed almost twenty enemy contacts right on their tail. If they even made it to the transmission booth, it would be a hell of a close call.

"There it is!" Taylor shouted, pointing up the hall. There was a large durasteel door set into the wall in the center of a hallway T-junction.

"Keep running!" Dupens shouted, firing blinding over his shoulder. "Get in there!"

Taylor had just stepped into the T-junction when he went down; a muscular arm slammed across his faceplate visor, knocking him to the floor. He grunted and rose onto his hands and knees, shaking his head. Then the same muscular arm grabbed his shin guard and dragged him kicking and shouting into the darkness. Dupens didn't hesitate, as his training didn't allow for that in llife-or-death situations. But no matter how fast he ran, he couldn't help but hear the snarling growl of something big as it tore into Taylor. The young private screamed, but only for a short time. Then he fell swiftly silent, leaving only the growling of whatever had killed him.

Dupens sprinted forward into the transmission booth, punching the door controls so hard the panel shattered in a shower of sparks. The door slid closed just as Dupens saw a mass of scaly, green-skinned aliens rush into the T-junction from all sides.

He stood alone in the small room, gasping for breath as he listened to the lizards throwing themselves against the door outside with rage-filled roars and hisses. They even tried discharging their shotguns at the door to no avail. The door was a half-meter of solid durasteel and no projectiles were getting through that.

Dupens took a deep breath and shook his head, thinking, _Rest in peace, Private Taylor. You were a good soldier_.

Then he turned to the transmission equipment mounted on the back wall.

_Okay_, he thought. _Now how do we work this mess_?

He pressed a button marked _POWER _and the entire contraption lit up and began to hum with power."

"Here we go," he muttered, pressing the blue transmission button. He set the machine to transmit on all Imperial frequencies so that anyone passing by would hear his broadcast.

"This is Stormtrooper Sergeant Dupens," he said into the vocoder, "Fifth Tachador Battalion, Bravo Company, Identification Code TT-3487Z, transmitting on all open Imperial channels."

He took a deep breath and began his report, ignoring the increasingly insistent pounding against the door behind him.

* * *

**Imperial Space Station **_**Importunate**__, _**in orbit over Tachador**

The governor's aide ran through the door to his employer's office, flashing his clearance code at the troopers standing guard outside. He clutched an audio receiver in his hand, so tight his fingers were white.

"Sir!" he said as soon as he saw the governor, "I have something extremely-"

The Governor held up a single thin finger and said, "Not now, Yarin. As you can see, I'm in the middle of a meeting with the Prime Minister."

"Sir," Yarin said, bowing his head respectfully to Prime Minister Adulal. "I mean no disrespect, but this is far more important-"

"Yarin!"

"-and it affects both of you," he pressed. "I swear to you, sirs, you're going to want to hear this."

Governor Quor sighed and rubbed his eyes. Finally, he said, "Very well, Yarin. What is it that you wished to show us?"

Yarin swallowed nervously and stepped up to the Governor's desk. "this morning, we picked up an emergency broadcast transmitted over all major Imperial channels. At first we thought it was just a prankster trying to spam our fighters, but... well, listen for yourself."

He set the audio receiver on the desk top and pressed the play button. A crackly, hoarse voice began emanating from the speaker.

"_This is Stormtrooper Sergeant Dupens_," the voice said, "_Fifth Tachador Battalion, Bravo Company, Identification Code TT-3487Z, transmitting on all open Imperial channels."_

There was a pause, then the voice continued, _"The Imperial military base is overrun. We came under attack by what I think are Trandoshan slavers. The entire base has been put out of commission. For all I know, I'm the last soldier left alive in the entire city."_

Governor Quor and Prime Minister Adulal glanced at each other worriedly, then began staring at the audio receiver intently, hanging on the recorded trooper's every word.

"_The base is overrun,_" the trooper said, a note of desperation entering his voice. "_We need immediate reinforcements or we'll lose the base. We don't even know how many more of these lizards are running amok in the city._

_ "Please help_," he finished. _"We need experts. Send Mandalorians_."

Then the recording was drowned out in static for a few moments before looping back and starting over. Yarin switched the audio receiver off and tucked it into his jacket pocket.

"This trooper's identification code checks out," he said, hooking his arms behind his back. "This is _not_ a joke."

The Governor and the Prime Minister glanced between each other worriedly. The Governor sat down, running a hand through his graying hair, while the Prime Minister's face paled to a light purple and he looked out the large transparisteel viewport without a word.

"What... what are your orders, sir?"

Quor sighed and hesitated before saying, "Get a squad together. We'll send an investigative team down in the morning to ascertain the truth of this transmission."

"We can't do that," the Prime Minister snapped. "What if this trooper is telling the truth? We would just be throwing away lives."

"And if it is just a joke? How would I explain to the Senate that we hired an entire army of Mandalorians for nothing? Do you have any idea how much it would _cost_?"

"And how much would it cost to rebuild after a metropolitan disaster of this magnitude? The transmission came from _Tandori_. That's the biggest city on the entire planet!"

"I have regulations to follow."

The Prime Minister spat in derision. "Space your regulations. Those are _my_ _people_ down there, and I won't have some paper-pushing bureaucratic Imperial telling me we're not even going to try to save them!"

"Don't raise your voice at me, Prime Minister," the Governor snapped. "At the end of the day, _I_ am the voice of the Empire here. And that means it is _my_ responsibility to take command of this situation."

"So you will allow my people to die simply to follow your Imperial protocols? You are colder than I previously thought, Governor."

He turned to Governor Quor and narrowed his yellow eyes. "I believe this threat to be real. And if you will not contact the Mandalorians to assist us, I will."

"Prime Minister," Quor snapped, "you will not force my hand in this. You are a fool if you think otherwise."

"I am not going to force your hand," Adulal said. "But I will take action if you will not. And if it gets back to your precious Empire that you merely sat by while Tandori burned right beneath your nose… how will that play out in the Senate Rotunda?"

Adulal strode regally out of the room without another word. Governor Quor stared after him before rubbing his eyes again and shaking his head. Yarin stood still, waiting for the Governor to speak. When Quor didn't speak, he cleared his throat and asked, "What… what are your orders, sir?"

Quor stared at his desktop for a long time before he shook his head and said, "Send a message to Mandalore Fenn Shysa. We will hire him and his mercenaries to investigate this matter."


	2. Chapter 1

A long time ago,

In a galaxy far, far, away…

Star Wars: White Snow

Reputation

_Something is happening on the Imperial manufacturing planet Tachador. Trandoshan slavers have attacked and taken control of the planet's capital city. All contact with the planet has ceased._

_In an act of desperation, a joint decision between the Imperial Governor and the Tachadorian Prime Minister has been made to hire the mercenary Mandalorian Protectors. The Protectors are needed to investigate the matter and neutralize the Trandoshans if needed._

_Now, word has finally reached the Imperial forces on Tachador that Mandalorian leader_ _Fenn Shysa has accepted the mission…_

Chapter 1: Ori'ramikade

**Omotao Farm, outside Keldabe, Mandalore**

Jay shifted her weight from foot to foot, hefting her dueling saber in her hands. Across the dueling ring, Venku Skirata spun his own saber in lazy arcs in front of him.

"You're getting much better at this," he said, grinning behind his open-visor sparring helmet, "but you're no Cin Vhetin."

"Neither are you," Jay shot back. "I've seen womp rats that put up a bigger fight than you."

"I never thought someone so pretty could be such a smartass."

Jay jumped forward, slashing at Venku's head. The Mandalorian ducked the blow and punched her in the gut. Her sparring armor absorbed most of the blow, but it was still powerful enough to knock her back a couple steps.

Not wanting to give any more ground, she planted her feet and leaned her weight onto her forward-facing foot. As Venku stepped forward to press his advantage, she brought her saber up and smashed it against his. He grunted as he pushed against her, struggling to gain the upper hand in their sword lock.

"What?" Jay laughed as she too pushed against the lock. "Is that all you've got? I thought you were the big, bad, Mando boy?"

He scowled at her, then suddenly stepped back, breaking the lock. Jay staggered forward, off balance. He quickly took advantage of her instability and planted a boot in the small of her back. She was thrown against the sparring ring's fence by the kick, and she bounced off it and landed hard on her back.

He knelt over her, a wide grin on his face, and said, "You were saying?"

She laughed and tried to punch at him. He easily dodged the halfhearted blow and offered her a hand. She accepted it and let him haul her to her feet.

"You may be getting better as a bounty hunter," he said, "but your melee combat moves still need some work."

"Yeah," she agreed, dusting off her borrowed sparring armor. "Why do think I'm still meeting Vhetin here after almost a year of work?"

She leaned casually back against the fence and looked around. "Where is he, anyway? It's not like him to be late."

Venku shrugged, leaning against the fence as well. "Who knows? You know how he is. If he does show up he probably won't tell you where he went anyway."

"I guess you're right," she said, shrugging. She looked over at him and said, "So how have things been with you lately? We haven't seen each other in a while."

He shrugged. "_Ba'buir_ Kal's getting older, Kyrimorut is getting more crowded, and I'm getting more handsome and charismatic by the day."

She elbowed him in the ribs. "Your modesty overwhelms me."

"I like to think of myself as a breath of fresh air among stuffy Mandos like Vhetin who don't even know the definition of _charm_."

Jay chuckled, looking around the still and silent farm. Rame and Mia were in Keldabe for the day, meeting with a friend of theirs from out of town. Brianna was in town as well, helping a friend of her own with some mechanical problems up at MandalMotors tower. Vhetin had disappeared up into the mountains the day before and hadn't so much as commed anyone since.

In all, the place looked deserted. Jay absently wondered what had Vhetin so worked up, that he would disappear like this, but decided against worrying about it too much. After all, it wasn't like this was odd behavior for her partner.

"What about you?" Venku asked. "Have you repaired your apartment yet? You know, after..."

Jay knew all too well what her friend was hinting at. Almost two weeks ago, she had been marked for death by a group of renegade Mandalorians masquerading as a street gang from Saleucami. Their attack had left Jay's apartment severely damaged, Brianna's home completely destroyed, and Vhetin's bastion in the mountains almost burnt to a crisp. In the weeks since the attack, Jay knew that Brianna had found a new apartment, and Vhetin had camouflaged the damage around his own home to disguise its location should anyone be looking for him from the air.

Jay herself hadn't moved out of her apartment, as she'd only been living there for a few months at most, but had spent quite a lot of time and effort to repair the damage done to her new home.

"I just finished setting in the new flooring yesterday," she said. "It took me almost three days to rip up the old, burnt _osik_ that was there and set in the new tiles, but I got it done. I also ordered a new door that should be here within the week."

"Good," he said. "A grenade burn on the floor doesn't really give people a good impression about their overall well-being while staying in your apartment. If you don't mind me saying."

"I agree completely," she said. "Besides, it's kind of noticeable for anyone else who may be looking for me."

"That too."

They stood in silence for a time, listening to the distant roar of transports taking off from Keldabe to the north. Keldabe seemed to be busy today, with more and more transport ships darting in and out of the city limits with each passing hour.

She decided to point this out, nodding toward the distant city and asking, "What do you think is going on up there today? Is Keldabe gearing up for some special Market Day event or something?"

Venku frowned thoughtfully and said, "I don't know. I haven't heard anything."

"Maybe it has something to do with why Vhetin hasn't showed."

"Maybe, but... hey, where are you going?"

She had stepped away and began walking toward her ship, _Vengeance_, which was resting near the main building of Rame and Mia's farm. "I'm going to see Vhetin. I want to know what's going on."

"Oh... okay. See you later, then. Tell me what's going on when you get back?"

"Sure thing," she said as she swung up into the cockpit of her Skyraptor fighter. She flipped several switches and sealed the canopy before guiding her ship into the air.

Something was going on, she was sure of it. And if anyone knew what it was, it would be Vhetin.

In the past, she hadn't known where Vhetin lived; he just randomly showed up in Keldabe with new bounty contracts. Until recently she had assumed he lived with Brianna, as the two had been dating for almost five years. But while being hunted by the rogue Mandalorian Xac Suirotnoc she had found that her partner lived in a camouflaged subterranean home — known as a _vheh'yaim _or bastion — deep in the mountain wilderness.

Now that she knew of the bastion's location, it didn't take her long to find the small forest clearing where she could set her fighter down. After she had finished locking down her ship in case of theft, she swung out of the cockpit and looked around the grassy clearing.

_I hope Vhetin's up here_, she thought. _If not, I don't know where he'd be._

Sure enough, she saw Vhetin's transport, _Void_, resting near the treeline. The ship was draped with forest-weave to conceal it from the air, the reason Jay hadn't seen it when she'd brought her ship down.

From the clearing, it was about a fifteen-minute hike through the woods, through dense copses of trees and over a small stream. After a time, Jay noticed that the foliage underfoot was beginning to turn brown and crispy from the fire that had raged through the area when Jay had been targeted for assassination.

She saw the half-dome shape of the bastion rising out of the ground in front of her. She stepped into the tunnel that led down underground into the bastion. She pounded her fist against the durasteel door and called, "Vhetin? You in there?"

The comm mounted on the door controls buzzed and her partner's quiet voice said, "Door's open. Come on in."

The door slid into its housing in the wall, revealing the long hallway within that led to the circular center room of the bastion. She slowly stepped inside, calling, "Vhetin? Where are you?"

No answer.

"Come on, Cin," she said. "Say something."

She stepped into the _karyai_ and her blood ran cold.

Standing in the center of the room near the small table by the couch was none other than Boba Fett. His dull green and red armor was unmistakable, especially after he had almost killed her while she and Vhetin had been hunting down a contract on Telos.

His back was turned to her as he slung his green jetpack over his shoulders. That meant she still had the element of surprise. She quickly pulled her pistol from its holster and aimed it squarely between his shoulders.

"All right, Fett," she said. "I don't know what the hell you're doing here, but turn around slowly and put your hands on your head."

He froze, surprise evident in his body language, and half-turned to her. Then, to Jay's bewilderment, he burst out laughing.

"I… I'm not joking," she pressed, tightening her grip on her pistol. "Hands on your head. _Now_!"

He shook his head, still laughing, and murmured, "Put your gun down, Jay. You must have me confused with someone else."

She frowned in uncertainty and slowly lowered her pistol. She recognized that voice.

"Vhetin? What the hell are you doing wearing Boba Fett's armor?"

"It's not," he replied, turning towards her. "See for yourself."

Once he was fully facing her, she realized that his armor was indeed different in appearance than Fett's. Though the armor was the same shade of green and red she saw that it lacked the distinctive dent in the helmet forehead, the intricate feather-like design on the upper left chest plate, and the braided Wookiee scalps over the left shoulder.

"Okay," she said as she holstered her pistol, finally convinced that it was indeed her partner. "Why the sudden change of color scheme? I kind of liked the black and gray."

"It's not permanent," he said, nodding his helmeted head toward an ammunition locker at his feet and kicking it lightly with the toe of his boot. Inside was a man-sized dummy holding his normal black armor with distinctive gray stripes.

He turned his back to her and continued his work. Jay stepped closer and saw that he was loading supplies and weapons into an armored backpack. When she raised an eyebrow questioningly, he explained, "I have to leave town for a couple days, and this is what I have to wear."

"You're leaving?" she asked, cocking her head to one side. "But… you've barely been back more than a week and a half."

Vhetin and many other Mandalorians had been called into the mountains two weeks earlier to help build a _beskar_ mining outpost. The building was completely finished now, but the bulk of the Mandos had only returned less than a week ago.

He shook his head. "This isn't optional. Well I guess it is, but not for me."

"You're speaking in your ambiguous Vhetin-talk again. Can you just tell me what's going on?"

"Protector deployment," he replied simply, checking the charge on a short-range pistol before holstering it on his belt. "I ship out later today."

"The Protectors?" she echoed.

The Mandalorian Protectors – known colloquially as _supercommandos_ – were elite members of a mercenary army of Mandos in service to Mandalore Shysa. The army would mobilize when hired and travel to various planets to assist in various matters: bolstering government military forces during rebellions, helping with search and rescue during natural disasters, or, more commonly, special black-ops military missions assigned by planetary governments. As she watched Vhetin load more and more weapons into his pack, she was convinced it was the latter.

"So what's the job?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No. Not this time, Jay. You're staying here."

"What? Why?"

"This isn't like hunting," he replied, buckling the top of his pack down. He grabbed several packs of concentrated food packs and stuffed them into a side-pocket of the pack. "This is a high-risk military insertion. I've trained you well enough to function during hunting contracts, but that doesn't make you a soldier."

"I can hold my own in any firefight you can," she shot back indignantly. "I've saved your armored butt too many times to count!"

"But this is different," he pressed. "You'll be way out of your depth."

"Is Brianna going?"

He hesitated. "Yes."

"What about Rame?"

"Yes."

"Jaing?"

"Look, I know where you're going with this," he said. "But they've all been trained to fight with the Protectors."

"Everyone has to start somewhere," she said. "Besides, if I can't come along willingly, I'd be more than happy to have someone in Keldabe smuggle me in."

When he said nothing, just continuing to load his pack, she said, "You know I have the contacts and you know I'm stubborn enough to do it."

He snorted and muttered, "_Oya_ to that."

"I may not be some super-badass Mandalorian, but if there are _aruetiise_ tagging along for the ride, I want to be a part of it as well."

"You won't be paid for it, you know. The money from the job is divided up among the official Protectors."

"I don't care. I won't sit by while my friends are fighting on some far-off world."

He sighed and hung his head. "You can be a real _atin di'kut, _you know that Jay?"

"A stubborn idiot? Yeah. It's a fact that I'm very proud of," she said. "So what do you say? Can I come along?"

He shook his head and sighed explosively. "Fine. I'll clear it with Shysa."

He finished packing and stepped away from the center table. "You'd better get whatever gear you have packed and ready to go. We leave later tonight."

"Wait," she said. "What are we even doing on this deployment thing?"

He shrugged as he disappeared down a side hall. "Don't know. Shysa and Dala will brief us when we leave."

She stared after him, then hid a smile and hurried toward the door. If she was going to head out with the supercommandos, she'd need to bring a few things with her.

* * *

She spent the rest of the day at her apartment, packing necessary supplies for an trip of undetermined length to Force-knew-where. The supplies she brought were just essentials: her pistol, several changes of clothes, concentrated food packs she picked up at a local market, basic toiletries, and other materials that would come in handy in various situations. From all she'd been able to gather, _Mand'alor_ Shysa wasn't saying much about the deployment yet. As a result, she was preparing for any situation she could think of.

About three hours before deployment, a deep, booming rumble sounded in the air and the ground shook beneath her feet. She cursed and staggered toward the window, looking outside to see the cause of the disruption.

As she opened the window and stuck her head outside, something huge blotted out the sun. She looked up in time to see a huge ship roar overhead. She thought for a moment that it was a Star Destroyer, but then she saw that while the ship was similar in size, it was angular and boxy with two gigantic, stubby-looking wings protruding from its rear port and starboard sides. A long spire jutted downwards from the front of the capital ship and lights glittered across its surface.

Jay relaxed as she watched two other transports of much smaller size sluggishly soar down toward the private landing strip at MandalMotors tower.

The capital ship – one of the largest produced by the MandalMotors Hypernautics Company – was known as a Keldabe cruiser, and served as the heavy gun support of the rag-tag Mandalorian Defense Fleet. It served mainly as a support ship and, apparently, a troop transport for supercommando deployments.

As she turned back to her packing, she heard a knock on her door. She turned, one hand on her pistol, and called, "Who is it?"

"Virtually the only guy who knows where you live," Venku's voice said.

She relaxed. "Okay. Door's open."

He slowly opened the door, poking his head through. He noticed her hand on her blaster and said, "Um... is now a bad time?"

She shook her head, slowly removing her hand from the butt of her blaster. "No. I'm just cautious of people randomly knocking on my door. Last time someone dropped by uninvited, they blew half my apartment to hell."

"Your caution is understandable," he said, stepping into her apartment. "Have you got this place booby-trapped as well?"

"No," she replied with a smile as she turned back to her packing. "I'm a one-woman security force."

"So did you find out what the big deal is? What's with all the ships?"

"Apparently the supercommando army has been hired for some military combat mission. Apart from that, I don't know any more than you."

"And what's all this for?" he asked, indicating the pack in front of her. "You aren't going with, are you?"

"Why wouldn't I? All my friends are going and I'm not going to let them go off and fight without helping."

"But this... well, it isn't like bounty hunting. It's a whole new _meshgeroya_ field."

She chuckled. "You sound just like Vhetin. Why are you guys so adamant about keeping me here?"

"I can't speak for Vhetin, but I don't want you to dive head-first into something you aren't ready for. I mean-"

"Just how bad are these missions?" she asked. "In case you don't remember, I used to be in the military."

"In the _Navy_," he said. "That's nothing like land-based combat missions. These deployments are _vicious_."

"You seem tough enough to make it through."

He suddenly looked at his boots and shifted his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably. Jay could swear that he was blushing, and when he spoke his voice was very quiet.

"Yeah..." he said, "um, I've never actually been on a deployment."

"What?" she said. "But you're Mandalorian!"

"Working with the Protectors is a voluntary assignment; Shysa can't force anyone to travel with the army. And my dad uses that as a way to keep me here."

"Why?"

"It's a long story, but... well, after my mom died, he kind of saw me as the only family he had left. _Ba'buir _Kal and all my uncles and aunts kind of helped, but he's always seen me as someone special. And he doesn't want me to get hurt or killed on deployment as a mercenary, doing the dirty work _aruetiise _are too lazy to get done themselves."

"Oh," she said. "Then how can you know these missions are so bad?"

He sighed and pointed to his left chestplate, which was a dull yellow. "See this? This piece belonged to one of my uncles. He was killed by a dumb _aruetii _stormtrooper while deployed for the supercommandos. We didn't even know he'd been killed until two months after the battle, when they finally identified his body."

He pointed to his blue-painted gauntlet. "This belonged to one of my adopted sisters, who was killed while dogfighting in a Skyraptor during a Protector deployment over Bova Two."

He gestured to the rest of the armor plates on his body that were colored differently than his chosen scheme of gun-metal-gray and red. There was a mournful look in his eyes as he said, "All of these plates were taken from the suits of fallen members of the Skirata Clan. And I'd say half of these people were killed on Protector deployments."

He shrugged, trying to look nonchalant, and said, "So you'll excuse me all to hell if I don't want another friend going off and getting herself killed."

"Oh," she said. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"I'm not mad at you. I'm just trying to explain that this isn't your kind of battlefield. And I don't want you to get hurt."

"With an army of Mandalorians at my back?" she said, feigning a laugh. "Not a chance."

She hesitated, then adopted a more serious tone. "Besides, I can't just sit by while my friends are fighting and possibly dying. It's just not who I am."

He nodded and said, "I should know better than to argue with you. I mean, you are Corellian after all..."

She grinned and turned away, resuming her packing. "Vhetin says we should only be gone a couple days. Could you do me a favor and keep an eye on my place while I'm gone? I don't want anyone else sneaking in and planting bombs on my doors while I'm away."

"Sure thing. But... be careful, all right? Watch your own back and let the rest of the Protectors watch theirs. Deal?"

She nodded. "Deal. They can probably handle themselves anyway."

"Okay. Drinks are on me at the _Oyu'baat_ when you get back."

"Are you asking me out?"

"No. Just adding a little incentive for you to come back in once piece."

She nudged his armored shoulder. "You must think you're pretty good incentive."

"We'll see," he said with a smile. "I'll see you when you get back."

* * *

**Keldabe Interstellar Spaceport, later that night**

Vhetin waited in the middle of a throng of people as they all waited for the Keldabe Cruiser to finish its refueling sequence and prepare for boarding. Waiting outside on the massive landing strip were several hundred Mandalorians, all dressed in identical suits of green-red armor. They were all milling about, talking to each other about the upcoming deployment, or even sitting on the ground and using their supply packs for plates as they grabbed a late dinner.

Standing mingled among the Protector forces were about a hundred _aruetii_ auxiliaries, wearing varied protective outfits and armor suits and hefting various weapons. Among the non-combat personnelpresent were technicians, hurrying about in an effort to prep the Keldabe Cruiser for takeoff.

The sky was completely pitch black above, sporadically lit with forks of brilliant white lightning. A soft, drizzling rain fell down from above, making the permacrete landing strip shine in the darkness.

Vhetin stood off to one side of the huge crowd, looking around at the crowd as he waited for Jay, Rame, and the others to show up. Many Mandalorians nodded respectfully to him in passing, but very few spoke to him. The fact that he still kept his helmet on in the crowd was a slight hint that he was not to be messed with, but very few were able to actually recognize him without his typical black-gray armor.

Nevertheless, there were some in the crowd who recognized him. As he waited, another green-red Mando walked toward him with a hand raised in greeting.

"_Su'cuy, vod_," the man said as he approached. Vhetin nodded in greeting and grasped the man's mechanical prosthetic arm.

"Good to see you Sazh," he said. "It's been a while."

The last time Vhetin had seen this man, Sazh Kisaragi, had been when Sazh had provided him with information regarding a lucrative bounty on Mon Calamari. He was a loyal, trustworthy _Mando'ad_ and Vhetin was glad that he'd be there to watch his back during the deployment.

Vhetin took a step back and folded his arms across his chest. Sazh copied the motion, flexing the fingers of his mechanical hand.

"So…" the Mando said slowly, looking up at the underbelly of the Cruiser above them, "any idea what this whole thing is about?"

Vhetin shook his head. "Nope. From what I've heard, Shysa will explain everything during the briefing."

"Why is he being so secretive about all this?"

"My guess is that the guy who's hiring us thinks it's a top-secret mission-"

"Unlikely if he's called us in," Sazh pointed out. "I mean an army of Mandalorians isn't exactly the definition of _discreet_."

"-or," Vhetin continued, "it's dangerous as hell and he wants us to sign on first. If he told us right out that this was so dangerous he may have lost a quarter of his fighting force from the start due to lack of interest."

"That's possible, I guess. But I never had _Mand'alor _Shysa down as a dishonest trickster."

"It's not dishonesty," Vhetin said, "it's practicality. Shysa doesn't want a good chunk of his soldiers bugging out because they don't want to sign on to get themselves killed for _aruetiise_. If he out and told you that you might get killed on this op, would you sign up for it?"

"Of course not," Sazh said. "Let the _aruetiise_ take care of their own dirty work."

"There you go."

They stood in silence for a moment before Vhetin spotted a small group of people, armored and unarmored alike, heading through the crowd toward them. He unfolded his arms and waved them over, knowing they wouldn't recognize him.

"Hey there," Brianna said with a smile as they approached. "That is Cin Vhetin under there, isn't it?"

"Sure is," he replied, hugging her quickly and giving her a gentle headbutt. "You all ready to go?"

For the deployment, she had forgone her more revealing hunting gear in favor of an armored combat vest complete with uniform Mandalorian shoulder guards, gauntlets, and thigh and shin plates. Her bulky neck guard was strapped over her shoulder as well and she was carrying a supply pack of her own over her shoulder. Tucked under her arm was a scaled-down, steel gray variation of a typical Mandalorian helmet.

Several others accompanied her: Jay, Rame, and Mia, as well as Jaing and Venku Skirata. Jay was dressed in her own composite combat armor (no doubt supplied by the techs in the Protector armory inside the spaceport) and her pistol was holstered on her belt. Rame and Jaing were both dressed in full armor painted in Protector greens and reds. Mia, however, was dressed in plainclothes — a black shirt and work pants — while Venku was still in his multi-colored armor. They were obviously not tagging along.

"When are we heading out?" Jay said, squinting to make out the shape of the huge capital ship through the darkness. "Obviously not soon, with all these Mandos hanging around."

"It shouldn't be too long," Jaing said, looking up at the huge cruiser. It's white landing lights were flashing rhythmically, signaling that the cruiser was finished refueling.

Jay turned to Sazh and held out a hand. "Kisaragi," she said. "Nice to see you again."

He inclined his head slightly. "Same to you. I heard you've had some trouble with renegade Mandalorians lately."

"We wrapped that up," she replied with a shrug. "Are you heading out with the Protectors?"

He nodded, gesturing to his green-red armor. "As you can see. What about you?"

She nodded. "As long as Vhetin's fighting with you guys, so am I. We're partners after all. He can't get rid of me easily."

"It's not for lack of trying," Vhetin muttered, only half-serious.

A blaring siren sounded over the voices of hundreds of voices. Moments later, a gravelly, amplified voice said, "This is Tobbi Dala. The _Hodayc_ is ready to load. Proceed to your designated quarters onboard and drop off your gear before heading to the briefing room. The deployment briefing will begin at eleven-hundred hours. Don't be late, people."

"At last," Jaing said. He slung an arm around Vhetin's shoulders and said, "Let's head out, _vod_. You're bunking with me on this trip."

Vhetin rolled his eyes behind his helmet faceplate. "Lucky me."

"If you need extra weapons, supplies, or armor," Dala's voice continued, "visit U'meo Ekur and Janada Bralor in the supply shop on Deck Twelve. You can find anything else on the maps downloaded to your datapads. So without further ado, we'll start loading Decks One through Four."

The crowd began to shuffle around as Mandos hurried to get onboard the _Hodayc_. Brianna parted ways with them there, being partnered with a friend on Deck 2.

"Better settle in guys," Rame said, sitting down on a supply crate nearby. "The _Hodayc_ has enough room to house seven thousand people. This is going to take a while."

The next few hours seemed to crawl by; Vhetin and the others couldn't leave and run the risk of missing their call to board, so they were forced to simply sit where they were for hours, waiting for Dala to announce that their decks were ready.

Vhetin passed the time by running checks through his list of bounty contacts and scanning for anything interesting; just because he was on a Protector deployment didn't mean he could turn a blind eye to the events taking place in the bounty hunting industry.

It was interesting enough to pass the time. There were multiple eye-catching reports. Apparently there was a smuggler running afoul of Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine, a serial killer hunting down natives on Ithor, and a Wookiee madclaw causing havoc with Imperial forces on Kashyyyk.

As for his fellow hunters, his reports showed that Boba Fett was doing some insignificant gruntwork for Darth Vader on Vulpter, Kalyn Farnmir was working as a bodyguard for visiting Underworld dignitaries on Coruscant, and Vhetin's old friend Tarron Matele was somewhere back in the Hapan Consortium, attending to the Queen Mother.

While he was checking up on the reports, Jay, Rame, and the others kept themselves busy with speculation about what they were going to be dealing with on the deployment. Vhetin kept half an ear on the conversation, chipping in when he had something to add.

"The fact that Shysa is keeping this whole thing under wraps is cause enough for concern," Mia was saying. "He's not usually one to keep things from his fellow Mandalorians."

"Maybe that's because he knows we won't be happy about the deployment," Sazh said, inspecting his metallic fingers. He flexed them slowly and continued, "I don't think this briefing is going to go well at all."

"If that's true," Jay pointed out, "why would he even accept the contract? If he knows his soldiers won't like it, why even consider it?"

"Supercommandos are high-profile mercenaries," Venku explained, "but that doesn't mean they're in very high demand. There hasn't been a deployment in over six months."

"How many have there been total?" Jay asked.

Vhetin decided to pitch in here. "I'll save the history lesson for later, but there have only been six deployments in the entire time I've been a supercommando. And I've been part of the Protectors for years now."

"Oh. Only six?"

"There's an average of two Protector deployments a year," Sazh said. "If we're lucky."

"Why so few? I mean, yeah they're not in high demand, but-"

"Why else? We're expensive."

"It's hard to get the best," Rame said. "And gathering together over three hundred of the best is definitely not cheap."

Venku looked up into the sky, squinting against the rain, and said, "Besides, supercommandos are here by choice. Even if they're being paid for it, it's not a small deal to ask people to leave their homes and families in order to risk their lives for people they don't even know."

"I guess that makes sense," Jay said.

Dala finally called that Decks 10 through 14 were boarding, and Vhetin heard Jaing mutter, "_Mar'e_."

Vhetin hauled his pack over his shoulder and prepared to set off. He waited for Jay, Rame, and the others to say their good-byes.

"Remember what I told you earlier," Venku said as he quickly embraced Jay. "Come back in one piece, okay?"

"You've got it," she replied, smiling.

"I'll see you in a couple days," Rame said to his wife, hugging her and kissing her forehead. "And I'll call you every chance I can."

"You'd better," Mia replied. "Or else there will be nowhere in the galaxy you can hide from me."

Jaing looked around a moment before nudging a nearby Mando woman. When she turned, he batted his eyes at her and said, "How about you? Have you got a hug for a brave Mando boy going off to battle?"

"Keep your hands off, Skirata," the woman replied. "I'm heading out too."

"What difference does that make?"

They all laughed before setting off toward the loading bay. Mia and Venku waved farewell before turning to head back into the spaceport, where they'd be safe from any engine wash from the cruiser as it took off.

"So…" Jay said slowly as they fought their way into a tightly packed crowd ready to get onboard. "Does anyone know their way around a Keldabe Cruiser? 'Cause I sure as hell don't."

"Like I said," Vhetin shouted, forced to raise his voice over the voices of all the other Protectors, "I've been deployed six times already. I'll show you to your bunk before getting my own stuff unloaded."

"I'm going to head off and see if I can find Shysa and Dala," Rame said. "See if I can find out what the hell is going on."

"Why bother?" Jaing pitched in as they reached the huge loading ramp leading into the main hangar bay. "They'll explain everything at the meeting anyway."

"I guess you have a point. Better to check in with Ume'o and Janada and get my hands on some extra gear. If this is like other deployments, we're gonna need it."

After several long minutes moving at a sluggish pace, they finally entered the cavernous hangar bay. Vhetin turned his head back and forth, looking to see what kind of armament the Protectors were packing this trip.

The huge hangar bay was flanked on both sides by rows of Canderous-Class assault tanks, a MandalMotors special. It looked like there were twenty in all, angular blocks of _beskar_ with large twin cannons jutting out from their housing, all enclosed in reflective black armor. They weren't pretty, but the tanks got the job done and that was all that mattered to Mandalorians.

Resting on quick-launch ramps above them were no less than fifty new Skyraptor fighters, sleek and mounted with reflective silver armor plating. There were technicians in dark red MandalMotors jumpsuits looking over the fighters, checking the prototype ships for any hull breaches or faulty seals. Though it was MandalMotors newest toy, the Skyraptor was far from perfect. In fact, Protector deployments were the best time to test-pilot the ships.

There were about fifty Mandalorians who had already unloaded their gear and were waiting in the hanger, hanging around until Shysa's briefing. Vhetin saw several Mandalorians in particular lounging around a Canderous tank, sharpening deadly looking vibro-axes and competing in feats of strength. There were then of them; six men and four women, all with a minimal amount of armor. They all had wild hair and dark eyes and their chests, arms, and faces were daubed with dark war paint. They were pointing at the green and red Protectors, talking and laughing raucously with each other as the other Mandos passed their tank.

He noticed Jay staring at the Mandos and he caught her arm. He led her away from them, murmuring, "You might want to stay away from those guys. They're... they're grouchy."

"Who are they?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at them.

"Berserkers," he explained. "Woodland wildmen. They're barely Mandalorian at all; they just come along for the blood."

"Where are they from? Concordia?"

Vhetin frowned behind his helmet. "No one really knows. They live somewhere in the forest, but they never stay in one place for long."

"If no one knows where they live, how did Shysa manage to contact them for deployment?"

He shrugged. "Shysa didn't contact them. They just show up whenever Shysa calls for a deployment. No one knows how they find out, but we don't complain. They're phenomenal fighters."

"How so?" Jay asked, eyeing the Berserker's heavy battle axes.

"Um... well, it's not exactly something you can put into words. Maybe you'll see them in action once we get to... wherever we're going."

Vhetin made sure not to make eye contact as they passed the Berserkers lounging around the tank. When dealing with Mandos of their caliber, it was wise not to do anything that could provoke them.

Vhetin guided Jay toward her assigned quarters on Deck 12, where she was bunking with a Mandalorian woman named Wad'e Rangir. The two were good friends and would probably stick together during most of the deployment. He was glad that there was an accomplished Protector like Rangir looking after his partner.

Once he ensured that she was situated, he head off toward his own quarters on Deck 14. He quickly unloaded his stuff before heading down to the hangar to wait for Shysa's briefing.

He had barely emerged into the busy halls leading toward the hangar before someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to find a Protector standing behind him, helmet removed and clipped on his belt. The man was almost a whole head taller than Vhetin he regarded the younger Mando with a cold gaze from one eye. His other eye was gone, replaced by a patch-shaped prosthetic with blinking lights.

"Trayc," Vhetin said, nodding respectfully. "Need something?"

"Rumor has it you're bringing your partner along for this freak show. Did you land on your head last jump, or what?"

"She insisted," Vhetin replied. "And sometimes it's better to just agree than to argue with her. She can be stubborn as hell sometimes."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," the man, Trayc Ramser, said. "Protector deployments are no place for _aruetiise_. I don't even think your girlfriend should be tagging along and she's about as tough as they come."

"The Protectors have been struggling ever since Galidraan," Vhetin said with a shrug. "We need all the help we can get."

"Anything short of an _aruetii_ with Special Forces training doesn't even come close to a born-and-raised _Mando'ad_."

"I'm a respected supercommando," Vhetin pointed out, "and I'm a convert. I wasn't born here."

Ramser shrugged and didn't say more. After a time he sighed and said, "So did you see the Berserkers down in the hangar?"

Vhetin nodded. "Looks like the biggest showing yet. How many are onboard?"

"I think I heard there were… fifty? Sixty? Something like that. I even thought I saw Norac down there."

"What's he doing here?"

Ramser shrugged. "Maybe he thought all the secrecy surrounding this deployment was interesting enough for him to show up in person."

Norac Benz was the self-proclaimed leader of the forest clans. He was unmatched when it came to melee combat and he was notorious for his bloodthirstiness. Vhetin had never met him, but the man's reputation was enough to make any Mando respect him.

Vhetin did know, however, that if Norac was here the deployment was sure to be more dangerous than originally anticipated.

"Who else do you know of?" Vhetin asked.

Ramser shrugged. "The usual: Droun, Baloc, Betan, and Kando for starters."

"All of 'em big guns, huh? That doesn't bode well."

"Who're you kidding? If they're coming along, this deal will be over before it even starts. They'll show the bad guys a new meaning of _aaray_. They won't know what hit them."

The intercom blared overhead and Dala's gravelly voice said, "This is Tobbi Dala. The briefing will begin in ten minutes, repeat ten minutes. If you're still unloading your gear, make it quick and get down to the briefing room. Shysa's waiting on you guys."

"Better head out," Ramser said, jerking his head toward the hall leading to the briefing room. "Don't want to keep Dala waiting. You know how cranky he gets when _vode_ are late."

* * *

Jay met up with Vhetin in a large, circular briefing room just off the main hangar bay. The room was little more than a round center floor with tiered benches rising above it. Vhetin was sitting near the top benches, the hell of one foot resting on the bench in front of him. He saw her approaching and nodded in greeting. She sighed as she sat down next to her partner.

"So what's going on?"

Vhetin shrugged. "Shysa hasn't showed yet. Dala's getting impatient, though."

He nodded toward a short, bald Mandalorian with an angry expression who was pacing back and forth in the circular center stage. Jay watched as he gestured furiously to a nearby Mando. Though she couldn't hear him over the voices of over three hundred assembled Mandos and _aruetiise_, she could read his lips as he shouted, _Where is he? _Mand'alor_ or not, tell him to get in here or his ass is mine!_

"Who is he?"

"Tobbi Dala," Vhetin explained. "Shysa's second-in-command. Cranky as hell, but a good, honorable _Mando'ad_. He's saved my ass more times than I can count."

"He looks more like a cantina bouncer than a soldier," she said, observing the man's bulky, muscular frame.

"I dare you to say that to his face."

"Hm... good point. I think I'll keep quiet about that."

After several long minutes of waiting, a tall, lanky Mando strode into the room. Jay would have recognized him instantly, even if not for the scattered cheers and applause that greeted his appearance. He was wearing faded green and red armor like the rest of the Protectors, but unlike the other soldiers his helmet was adorned with two blade-like insignia across the center forehead. Jay knew that those symbols were Jaig eyes, a Mandalorian badge of honor.

The man pulled off his helmet and tucked it under his arm, revealing his friendly, grinning face. He had a strong chin, a nose that looked like it had been broken at least once, and long blond hair that fell a little past his ears. If Jay had to guess, she would have said he was maybe thirty years old.

He stepped to the center of the viewing area and raised his hands for silence, calling, "Quiet down everyone! All right lads-"

At a chorus of indignant female voices he laughed and added, "and lasses, too. I dint forget ya."

When everyone slowly fell silent, he tapped in a code on his gauntlet-mounted datapad and projected the slowly rotating hologram of a planet into the center viewing area. Jay saw almost all the Mandos in the room shift and lean forward, studying the holo closely.

"Okay, _vode_," Shysa said, clapping his hands together. "Here's what were facing. We're lookin' at the Imperial-controlled planet of Tachador, population a little over sixty million. There's some areas of urban development, but most is swamp. Natives include the swamp-dwelling Urites..."

Shysa projected the image of a squat, frog-like alien with short legs, long arms, and large black eyes. Its skin was speckled and grayish looking (though it was hard to tell because of the bluish tinge of the hologram) and it was wearing little more than rags.

"They're mostly harmless," he continued, "but careful not to piss the li'l buggers off or they'll hit you with a poisonous bite that'll leave you paralyzed in an hour and dead in two. They're employed as part of the city labor force, so keep your wits about you."

"I wasn't under the impression that pest control was a task needing supercommando intervention," a man said further down the rows. His comment was met with scattered laughter and murmurs of "_Oya, vod_."

"In addition," Shysa said, ignoring the comment, "there is a second sentient native species, the Tachadori. They're the dominant race of the two, and they're the ones who have pushed hardest to hire us. So thank 'em when you see 'em."

The Urite hologram flickered out, replaced by the holo of a tall, regal-looking alien with dark purplish skin, long black hair, and bright yellow eyes.

As it appeared, several Mandos called out, "Thank you."

Shysa gestured for them to shut up, then pointed to the hologram. "These guys are friendlies, no matter how fearsome they act. They make up three quarters of the military planet-side, so chances are you'll be working closely with 'em. Make sure to remember your manners."

"So..." a Mandalorian woman spoke up hesitantly, "we know which aliens are there. What exactly are we going to be doing?"

Shysa stared at the woman for a moment, then said, "Okay. I'll get right to the point then. About three days ago the Imperial Space Station over Tachador lost contact with their military base in the capital city of Tandori. At first the station thought it was an equipment malfunction until they received an audio-only message from the base."

He nodded to Dala, who keyed in a code on his datapad. Moments later, a gravelly voice boomed over the mounted speakers spread throughout the room.

"_This is Stormtrooper Sergeant Dupens_," the voice said, "_Fifth Tachador Battalion, Bravo Company, Identification Code TT-3487Z, transmitting on all open Imperial channels."_

Jay listened intently. The man was following all standard Imperial transmitting protocols, which meant he wanted the message to be taken seriously.

_"The Imperial military base is overrun," _the man continued. "_We came under attack by what I think are Trandoshan slavers. The entire base has been put out of commission. For all I know, I'm the last soldier left alive in the entire city. The base is overrun. We need immediate reinforcements or we'll lose the base. We don't even know how many more of these lizards are running amok in the city. Please help_. _We need experts. Send Mandalorians_."

Dala tapped the datapad and the recording stopped, to be replaced by a rotating image of a tall, lanky Trandoshan. The alien was fearsome, with yellow eyes, leathery skin, and long talons on its three-fingered hand.

"These are our hostiles," Dala growled. "Trandoshans: big, ugly lizards with a taste for blood and an old hatred for Mandos in general. Don't expect a warm welcome from these guys."

There was silence throughout the briefing room. Jay could have sworn she could cut the tension in the air with the vibroblade sheathed down her boot. Eventually a man spoke up, saying, "At least the _aruetiise_ had the good sense to ask for the best."

Shysa nodded. "That's right. And that's why, even though they're _aruetiise_, we'll be treatin' the Imperial forces on the planet with the respect we show to our employers."

There were quiet murmurs of disapproval throughout the crowd, and Shysa waited a moment for the talking to die down. When he could be heard again, he said, "Now, I know a good deal of you have no love for the Empire. And I know some among you are _beroyas_ who have done things that would make the Emperor curse like a Corellian pirate."

Jay could swear that Shysa looked right at her, as if speaking to her directly. "But I do _not_ want you taking out your anger on these Imps. They're our bosses, so keep your tempers in check. Am I understood?"

There was a halfhearted round of reluctant agreements. Shysa frowned and rested his hands on his hips.

"Come on, put your bloody backs into it, people. _Am I understood_?"

Every Mandalorian suddenly sprang to their feet and saluted, shouting, "_Aye, Mand'alor_!"

Jay looked around, unsure of whether or not to join the Mandalorians in their salute. It didn't look like any of the other non-Mando participants were standing, though, so she assumed the more military aspects of the meeting were for the official Protectors only.

Shysa nodded, satisfied by their response. "That's better. Now when we get there, we'll be assistin' the Imperial forces in Tandori to drive out these Trandoshans. We don't know exactly what kind of forces we'll be going up against since the Imperials didn't want to send a recon group until we got there. So to start with, those of you who are aerial drop troopers will go in first and secure a landing zone for the rest of us."

He regarded the Mandos for a moment, then said, "Come on, lads, stand up. Let me know you're payin' attention."

About twenty Mandos stood at Shysa's bidding. Jay was slightly surprised when Vhetin stood as well. She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow as he saluted with the rest.

Shysa nodded and said, "Okay. For now, we've got some time before we reach Tachador. Without further ado, I'll turn this over to Ume'o so he can explain our tech lineup for the deployment."

Shysa nodded to a Mando sitting on one of the lowest benches. Ume'o Eruk, a lanky balding man who was the head technician at MandalMotors, stepped into the center of the briefing room with his customary scowl on his face.

"Okay," he growled. "For this mission, since we don't know what kind of forces we're going up against, we're bringing out the Canderous Tanks, the Skyraptor fighters, and some experimental Plasma Repeaters. Anyone wanting to register to test out the repeaters should see me or my secondary tech in the workshop on Deck Twelve."

Jay turned to her partner while Ume'o continued — the conversation didn't really pertain to her anyway — and said, "So you're an aerial drop trooper? What exactly is that?"

He turned his helmeted gaze to her and said, "A high-risk infiltration specialist. We're usually sent down to secure landing zones in areas to hot to bring in dropships."

"Right," Jay said slowly. "And how do they get you down there? I mean, if it's too hot for dropships..."

"That's where the 'aerial drop' comes in," he said. "We actually jump from pretty high up, beyond the range of any potential anti-aircraft batteries in the area."

"I don't think your jetpack would let you survive a fall _that_ far."

"We don't use our jetpacks the whole way," he said. "I'll show you what we do after the briefing."

As he spoke, Shysa stepped back into view and clapped his hands. "All right, _vode_, you're dismissed. We'll reach Tachador in six hours, so eat, talk, and rest while you can."

* * *

It was about an hour before Vhetin and Jay found some peace and quiet. After the initial mad rush to get onboard and get situated, it seemed that most of the Supercommandos and their companions wanted just to sleep and rest before they were thrown into combat.

Now that the briefing was over, the hangar had become something of the standard gathering place for the Protectors. As it was, though, the place was relatively empty; there were only maybe twenty or thirty soldiers present, spread out around the cavernous hangar. It wasn't surprising; a standard Keldabe Cruiser like the _Hodayc _could house seven thousand beings. There were only maybe eight hundred onboard now, and that was including the techs, the cooks, the vehicle maintenance officers, and any other non-combat personnel that the Protectors needed.

Tech specialists hurried around the area, still checking up on equipment. They paid the Protector's little mind, going about their work with single-minded intensity.

Vhetin was sitting on the front bumper of a Canderous tank, cleaning his standard-issue MandalMotors rifle. He racked back the charging rod and pulled it out of its housing. He grabbed a cleaning rag from next to him and proceeded to polish carbon scoring off the tip of the barrel.

"So," Jay said, resting her chin on her palm. She was sitting on a crate near the repulsor treads of the tank, watching the passing Protectors absently. "You promised to tell me about the Protectors. I still don't really get what all of you are supposed to be doing, fighting for foreigners."

"I never had you pegged as a history buff."

"I just want to know why you Mandalorians – who seem to be more than happy to let the _aruetiise_ sort out their own problems – suddenly flip and end up working _for_ them. Is that too much to ask?"

He shrugged as he began scrubbing out the magazine receiver. "I don't know."

"So spill it. I know you know something."

He paused, thinking for a moment. Eventually he returned to his duties and began, "Well… the Protector organization isn't all that old, actually. It was set up about fifty years ago by a Mandalore named Jaster Mereel."

"Jaster Mereel," she said. "Is that where Mereel Skirata got his name?"

He nodded. "Yeah. _Mand'alor _Jaster came into power when the Mandalorians were known as little more than violent mercenary thugs. Mandos back then were terrible during battle. They would pillage houses, burn cities to the ground, take people hostage and sell them into slavery. They were little better than murderers, rapists, and gangsters."

He narrowed his eyes, trying to remember the details of the history lessons Rame had taught him so long ago, when he had first converted.

"Jaster was determined to restore honor to the Mando name," he continued slowly, "so he introduced a cultural reform known today as the Supercommando Codex. These are the laws of Mandalore today: treat your fellow _Mando'ade_ with the utmost respect, hate the _aruetiise_ all you want as long as you don't actually hurt them and bring shame to your _vode_, you know the deal."

"I can imagine that didn't go down well with some of the more traditional-minded Mandos."

"You imagine right. One of Jaster's best soldiers, Tor Vizsla, opposed the Codex. Viszla was obsessed with ancient history, in particular with the idea of the Old Mandalorians under the rule of leaders like Mandalore the Indomitable and Mandalore the Ultimate."

"The Mandalorian Wars," Jay said.

"Right. Vizsla believed that the way to restore honor to the Mandalorian Clans was to start a new Mandalorian War and take over planets controlled by the Republic."

"That's ridiculous," Jay said. "The Mandalorians can't even decide on a single armor color. The Mandalorian Wars showed just how ineffective they were at ruling large sectors of space."

She hesitated, then added, "No offense."

"None taken. Anyway, Vizsla brought together a group of followers that defied Jaster's command. He called this group the Death Watch."

"I've heard of them." Jay said, looking up at him. "They were a terrorist group during the Clone Wars."

He nodded. "That was the second generation of the Death Watch, run by Tor's son, Pre Viszla. The first generation had less of a mind to destroy the Republic and the _aruetiise _and were more geared toward destroying Jaster's group, the True Mandalorians."

"Death Watch and True Mandalorians," she echoed. "Okay. So what happened?"

"Vizsla and Jaster went to war. Many good Mandalorians on both sides were killed. It was a senseless waste of Mando life, but the war also paved the way for one of the greatest _Mand'alor'e_ we've ever had."

"What do you mean?"

"Two years into the war, things were not going well for Jaster and his Supercommandos. They had been forced into hiding, retreating to Concord Dawn. There they took shelter in the home of a Journeyman Protector named Fett."

"Fett? As in…"

"Let me finish," he said. "The Death Watch was right behind Jaster, and they quickly found the farm where the Supercommandos were hiding out. They demanded to know where Jaster and his soldiers were.

"Farmer Fett was an avid supporter of Jaster and his Supercommando reform. He refused to tell the Death Watch scum where the _Mand'alor_ was. So Vizsla proceeded to torture the farmer in front of his son and daughter, Jango and Arla."

"Jango Fett? As in the template for the Republic clone troops?"

"The very same," Vhetin said, nodding as he pried the cap off the rear section of the tibanna accelerator tube. He carefully began to polish the carbon scoring off the shiny cylinder. "They killed Jango's family right in front of him before the boy escaped and helped lead the Supercommandos to safety. Jaster was impressed by the boy's strength and adopted him as his son."

"And what happened to this Jaster Mereel?"

Vhetin shrugged. "He was drawn into a Death Watch ambush a couple years later by his over-ambitious second-in-command. Tor Vizsla killed him."

"Ah. So what happened to the Supercommandos with Jaster gone?"

"His second-in-command, Montross, began a power struggle with Jango for control of the Mandalorians. Once the _Mando'ade _found out that Montross was more or less responsible for Jaster's death, they decided that Jango was the rightful _Mand'alor_. Montross was branded _dar'vod _and sent into exile."

Satisfied that his rifle was working at peak efficiency, Vhetin began to reassemble the weapon. He took a deep breath before continuing his story.

"With Jango in control, the Supercommandos became a mercenary army, selling their services to the highest bidder to rake in some creds for Mandalore's shaky economy. But they were focused almost completely on destroying the Death Watch. Unfortunately that proved to be their biggest weakness."

"How so?"

"Tor Vizsla brought what was left of his Death Watch to the frontier world of Galidraan. He overpowered the local government, forcing them to lure the Supercommandos into an ambush. The local governor contacted Jango and his troops, asking them to put down a Galidraan uprising. Jango and his soldiers responded, traveling to the planet and destroying the rebels.

"With the first part of his plan complete, Tor then ordered the governor to contact the Jedi Council. When he complied, the Governor fed the Jedi false information, claiming that the Supercommandos were slaughtering local political activists."

"Uh-oh," Jay said, a pained look on her face. "Something tells me this story doesn't have a happy ending."

"It doesn't," Vhetin said. "The Jedi wiped out the Supercommandos and captured Jango. The defeat was so bad that some historians claim that Fett was the last surviving _Mandalorian_."

"You still haven't answered my question, though," Jay said. "If all the Supercommandos were killed how did these Protectors start up?"

"Well, after Jango was killed at the Battle of Geonosis, a clone deserter named Spar became Mandalore. He was intrigued by the idea of the True Mandalorians and organized a two-hundred-man mercenary army of his own out of local police forces. He called this army the Mandalorian Protectors or Supercommandos in honor of the fallen True Mandalorians. Among the soldiers in this new army were two Keldabe enforcement officers named Fenn Shysa and Tobbi Dala."

"And when Spar died-"

"Stepped down," Vhetin corrected.

"Okay then, when Spar stepped down, Shysa and Dala took control of the Mandalorian Protectors."

"And organized it into all that you can see here," he said, gesturing to the hangar bay around them. "The Protectors under _Mand'alor _Shysa have brought over a billion credits to Mandalore. Without the Supercommandos, the Mandalorian economy would have crashed years ago."

"So it's more than just a mercenary army?"

"It's an invaluable part of Mandalorian culture, history, and economy," Vhetin said, setting his rifle aside and resting his forearms on his knees. "It keeps the _Mando'ade _sharp and well-trained. It gives us focus, gives us something to concentrate on besides our own petty differences. And more than that, it gives us an ideal to live up to, since we're all technically True Mandalorians still. You ask anyone around here and they'll tell you that they absolutely follow the True Mandalorians and the Supercommando Codex."

"And what about us _aruetiise_?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know, it gives you something to do on a boring weekend," he said, shrugging. "I can't speak for you."

She grinned and folded her arms, leaning her back against the bulkhead of the tank. She was silent for a time before she said, "What about you? What are these aerial drop troopers Shysa was talking about?"

"Oh," he said, a slight grin tugging at his lips. "I'll have to get Ume'o to explain that. You wouldn't believe it coming from me."

"Something tells me that's just you skirting the issue."

"I'm not," he replied, slinging his rifle over his shoulder. "And I'm going to prove it."

He hopped off the tank and gestured for her to follow him. "Come on," he said. "We're going to go pay the launch bay a visit. With any luck, Ume'o's over there and he'll be able to tell you what I do."

She frowned, half-smiling, but stood and followed him. He led her to a large, reinforced durasteel door at the back of the hangar. It slid open as they approached and Ume'o appeared, dirty and splattered with lubricants.

"Sorry, Vhetin," he growled as they approached. "Launch bay isn't ready for habitation yet. We're still getting some of the kinks worked out of the detonation codes aren't exactly synced up to the _Hodayc_'s comp systems."

"I'm not looking to get ready for launch," Vhetin said. "I just wanted to give Jay the grand tour."

Ume'o narrowed his eyes, staring at Jay.

"What?" she said, folding her arms. "You think I'm trying to pull something? Trying to spy on you?"

"Maybe."

She laughed. "Come on, Ume'o. You know me. You sold me _Vengeance_, remember?"

He grudgingly nodded. "Fine. I guess you're not half bad. For an _aruetii_."

"Thanks," she said, all humor in her voice suddenly gone. Vhetin could understand her sudden anger; she was fed up with all the serious _aruetii_-discrimination crap that most Mandalorians preached. She dealt with it every day, and she was getting tired of it. He didn't blame her. "That means so much to me. I'll be sure to recommend MandalMotors for an award in 'worst foreign customer service.'"

He sighed and said, "Sorry. Old prejudices die hard."

He jerked his head behind him and growled, "Come on in, I guess. Like I said, we're not fully operational, but I should be able to give you the general idea of what we do in here."

Vhetin stepped into the landing bay, which was familiar to him due to his multiple deployments. It was a small, rectangular room just off the hangar bay lit with dull red lights. There were large recessed niches set into each side of the room, occupied by large metallic suits. They looked like hulking, massive versions of Mandalorian armor.

"These are the suits central to aerial drop trooper operations," Ume'o said, standing to one side to allow a small group of techs to pass by. They were carrying a heavy drive core between them, hauling it up to the workshop on Deck 12.

"So what do they do?" Jay asked. "The suits. Are they for good combat protection?"

Ume'o slapped a hand against the metal surface of the suit affectionately. "These babies? No. When the troopers are ready to deploy, these suits buckle over their normal armor. It's like an ultra-heavy, skin-tight escape pod."

"What, so drop troopers get special escape privelages?"

"Not quite," Vhetin said, "but we are the first ones off the ship in combat."

"Explain please."

"You see, we use drop troopers for high-risk insertions into combat zones," Ume'o said. "When we fly the _Hodayc _over a good landing zone, the drop troopers suit up. When we get close enough, we shoot these pods-"

"With the troopers in them," Vhetin added.

"-down to the ground. It's quick, easy, and doesn't leave the _Hodayc _open to artillery fire.

"So it's like a rappel line for impatient soldiers?"

"We drop these guys from quite a ways farther up."

"I've seen special forces troopers rappel from a couple hundred feet in the air."

"Try a couple kilometers."

Jay's mouth dropped open in amazement. "_What_?

"We drop them from low orbit," Ume'o said. "Out of range of enemy anti-aircraft fire. The suits protect the troopers from entry burn, then pop off once they get clear of the atmosphere. They use their jetpacks the rest of the way down."

She looked at Vhetin with wide eyes. She gestured to the pod and said, "You actually get in these death traps?"

He nodded. "Every time."

"Do you have any particular desire to die in a fiery explosion?"

He shrugged. "Hey, if you have to go out, at least go out with a bang."

"You're full of _osik_."

"In all honesty, I do it because it's a job that needs to be done. And not many Mandos are crazy enough to apply."

"How many drop troopers do you have in the Protectors?"

Vhetin looked at Ume'o, shrugged, then said, "I don't know… twenty? Twenty-five?"

"Something like that. Less than what the _Mand'alor_ wants, and less than we usually need on deployments, but you guys get the job done."

Vhetin bowed his head slightly. "Thanks for the compliment. We try our best."

"So…" Jay said slowly, narrowing her eyes at the open pod, "when we reach Tachador, you'll go flying down in one of these things?"

"Hopefully."

"And I hope you're not expecting me to do the same."

Ume'o threw his head back and laughed. "You? Sorry, Rookie, but you're nowhere near qualified enough. Vhetin's had a year of drop training and he's made the drop six times already. You'll be grouped in with the infantry."

"Blaster fodder?"

"More like the backbone of the Supercommandos," Ume'o reassured her. "Shysa and Dala themselves will be marching with the infantry, not to mention the artillery support and Berserker auxiliaries."

"That makes me feel better... I think."

"You'll be fine," Vhetin said, clapping her on the shoulder. "Remember that whole deal on Tatooine?"

"What, when we stormed Kassh's base and we both almost died?"

"Yeah," he said. "It'll be just like that."

"Now I _definitely_ feel better."

* * *

**Keldabe Assault Cruiser **_**Hodayc, **_**en route to Tachador**

Vhetin heard a knock on the door of his quarters. He stood from his bunk, ready to pull his helmet over his head as he called, "Who is it?"

"It's Bri," came a smooth, accented voice. "Can I come in?"

He looked down at his helmet before setting it aside and moving to open the door. He quickly stepped back as the door slid open, making sure no one in the hall could see him minus his helmet.

"What do you need?" he asked.

"What do you mean 'what do you need'? I'm coming to talk to you before we deploy."

"Oh."

"I mean... well, we have to consider the possibility that one of us might not make it out of this."

He chuckled quietly. "Bri, we've both been through worse than this. Remember the deployment on Rodia? When we went up against Imperial forces and the governor put prices on all our heads?"

She laughed. "Yeah. That was crazy."

"We'll make it through this. We'll be fine."

"I know, but it's always a possibility."

"It's a possibility every time we leave our houses," he said. "Every time we leave Mandalore on a hunting contract."

"I know, but-"

"Bri," he said, hesitating, then touching her cheek. "I love you, and I would never let anything happen to you."

She smiled and nodded. "I love you too. And that's why..."

She rummaged in one of her belt packs before pulling out a comlink. She pressed it into his hand and whispered, "This comm is dialed into my personal number. No matter where you are, no matter how deep you are in the _osik_, just... call me and I'll do anything to get to you."

He stared at the comm in his hand, then smiled and tucked it into his belt. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, Bri."

He frowned thoughtfully, then said, "I have something for you, too."

He reached behind his back and unbuckled one of his lightsabers. More out of reflex than anything, he flipped the hilt over in his hand a couple times before handing it to her.

"You've practiced with these?"

She slowly took the cylindrical hilt, her eyes wide as she activated the blade. The glowing blue saber lit up with a loud _snap-hiss. _She stared at the blade of light, waving it back and forth a little and making the blade emit a low _vmm vmm_ sound.

"Yeah," she said quietly before deactivating the blade. "Enough to know how not to cut my own arms off."

He chuckled. "That's all I wanted to know. Keep it close and you'll be able to fend off anything these Trandoshans can throw at you."

"Unless they have projectile repeaters," she pointed out.

"Okay, yeah, unless they have projectile repeaters. But apart from that, you'll be okay."

She nodded, clipping the saber to her own belt. "I'll get it back to you. I promise."

The intercom suddenly blared and Fenn Shysa's voice said, "Okay. people, get ready. We're an hour and a half from Tachador, so everyone grab your gear and head to yer prep centers. _Oya Mando'ade."_

The two could hear hundreds of voices, even through the bulkheads of the ship, shout back, "_Oya Mando'ade!_"

"Well," Brianna sighed, "I guess that's our call."

"I guess it is," Vhetin said. He hesitated, then leaned forward and kissed her. She gasped slightly in surprise, but kissed him back. After only a few moments she put a hand on his chest and pushed him back.

"Save it for after the deployment," she whispered with a smile.

He nodded, pulling his helmet over his head. "Be safe. I love you."

"I love you," she echoed with a smile, then turned and disappeared out the door.

He stared after her, then sighed and grabbed his supply pack, his lightsaber pike, and his green-red jetpack. After looking his quarters over once more to make sure he wasn't leaving anything important behind, he turned and left the room. As the door slid shut behind him, he sighed and murmured, "_Oya Mando'ade_."

_Trayc Ramser and Sazh Kisaragi appear courtesy of LastRefugee and Lightning-Kisaragi, respectively, on Deviantart. com._


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: To War

Jay fought her way through the crowded halls, making her way to the hangar bay and the dropships that had been brought out there. All the infantry soldiers had been ordered to get to a dropship and prepare for landing on Tachador. As a result, Mandos, Berserkers, and _aruetii_ auxiliaries alike were hurrying for the hangar bay.

As she turned a corner the ship lurched under her feet, almost knocking her off balance. Out a nearby viewport she saw the blue-white vortex of hyperspace morph into the pitch black of space. She caught a glimpse of a pale green planet in front of the ship, its surface randomly dotted with small blue seas.

"Tachador," a man's voice said behind her. She turned to find Rame, dressed in olive-green and red armor. His helmet was clipped to some kind of special hook on his belt and he was hefting a large sniper rifle.

"We've arrived," she said as she began walking again. "Not much time left until we head down."

"Nope," he agreed. "We should head to the hangar. Brianna should be waiting for us."

They emerged into a strangely deserted hall and set off at a light jog in the direction of the hangar bay. They passed through twisting hallways and through the crowded maintenance deck before they reached the turbolift that would lead them down to the hangar.

"So what part of the Protectors are you grouped with?" she asked. She nodded to his rifle and said, "You're obviously not a drop trooper like Vhetin. They're not allowed to have such bulky weapons."

"No," he replied. "I'm a scout. I'm assigned to keep an eye on enemy movement around the Forward Operating Base but I can also be assigned as fire support in heavy combat areas. When you head out there, I'll have your back."

"Are you a good shot?"

"Please," he said in mock-annoyance. "I'm a Mandalorian. Being a good shot is a given."

"Ooh," she said, holding her hands up in surrender. "Looks like I struck a nerve."

"You'll have bigger things to worry about than my marksmanship skills when you get down there," he said.

"Yeah," she said. She suddenly frowned, thinking that he meant something other than the most direct meaning. "Wait, what do you mean _bigger problems_?"

"What, you don't know? Trandoshans have an elite class in their society. Real monsters; nine feet tall, hulking muscles, big teeth. They're like a Barabel on spice."

"_What_? Why didn't Shysa mention this in the briefing?"

"It's… well it's common knowledge, isn't it? Various Trando Elites are on virtually every wanted list in the Empire. And the Protectors have gone up against them before."

"And it was just the _aruetiise_ who were left out?" she sighed.

"Don't get defensive. It was just _you_ who was left out."

"You're right. Why would I be defensive about that?"

He shrugged. "You're the newest addition to the Protectors. Everyone else here has been with us since the last job against Trandoshans. Besides, you know now, don't you?"

"If these Elites are so strong how do you kill them?"

"They have organs just like most other organic beings," Rame said. "Brain, heart, liver… if you shoot 'em there, they go down just like anyone else."

"Okay. Anything else I should know?"

"Just keep on your toes and stay with the group and you should be fine."

Like Rame had said, Brianna was waiting for them in the hangar, standing in the open passenger bay of an old Clone Wars-era LAAT/i gunship with a hand grasping the overhead safety railing.

"Took you guys long enough," she grumbled as they stepped onboard. "What, did you crawl your way down here?"

"We're here," Jay said, grasping the safety rail. "On time. So stop complaining."

Rame stepped on board as well, ducking to avoid catching his jetpack rocket on the railing. The shipboard intercom blared and a crackly female voice said, "Everyone aboard? We launch as soon as we get confirmation from the drop troopers that we've got a clean landing zone."

"We're all-"

"Not quite." Sazh Kisaragi suddenly appeared, hopping onboard just as he pulled his green-red helmet over his head. "_Now_ we can go."

"Roger that," the pilot said. Jay heard her voice switch over onto the Supercommando 1 comm channel.

"This is Dropship Tee-Twenty-Fifteen heavy," she said, "ready to launch."

Jay saw the deck officer, standing on top of a large podium near the rear wall of the hangar bay, gesture toward their dropship. He made a fist with one hand and yanked down, as if pulling down a lever.

"Dropship Tee-Twenty-Fifteen," a man's voice said over the comm channel, "you are cleared for takeoff as soon as we can establish comms with the Dee-Tees."

"Roger that. We'll be waiting."

* * *

**Keldabe Cruiser _Hodayc_, Drop Trooper launch bay, twenty minutes earlier**

Vhetin stood with the other assembled drop troopers – thirty in all – and waited for clearance to suit up.

"All right, guys," said the drop leader, a short woman with short blond hair. She walked down the row of assembled troopers with a scowl. "We've tracked down a pretty good landing zone in Tandori. It's some kind of memorial plaza near the spaceport. Thermal imaging shows that the place is crawling with _shabla _lizards."

"Good," a man growled further down the line. "I'm dyin' for some payback after last time."

"You'll get it. We've got to secure the area for the _Hodayc'_s dropships. Once that's done, we'll be helping to set up the Operating Base for the deployment."

"Standard op stuff?" asked a tall woman with a pale gray streak in her black hair.

"Standard op stuff," the drop leader echoed, nodding. "But that doesn't mean you can't be careful. We're going to be going up against Trando Elites, probably with heavy projectile repeaters. That _osik_ will cut through your _beskar'gam_ like it was 'fresher paper."

Vhetin frowned and said, "What about friendly forces in the area? Can we expect reinforcements?"

"Probably not. Imperial reports show that the local milita was almost completely wiped out during the first few days of fighting. The ones that survived went into hiding after that."

"What about the Imps?" someone asked. "We're working for them. Are they going to get their hands dirty or is everything up to us?"

"There will be a TIE fighter squadron escorting you down to the surface. The bombers in the squadron will take out the anti-aircraft batteries we've found in the area, clearing your path down. From then on, it'll be your asses doing all the heavy work."

An alarm blared through the launch bay and everyone present looked up at the sound. The red lights began to flash slowly.

"All right _vode_," the drop leader called as everyone scrambled to get into position, "that's our cue. Armor up and get ready to fly."

Vhetin turned and maneuvered himself into his oversuit. He slid headfirst into the pod, twisting so he was standing more or less on his hands. The drop officer passed by his suit and pounded a fist against the outer skin, signaling that he was cleared for the drop.

He pounded a fist back and entered a code into the window that popped up on his HUD. Once he entered it, the two halves of the suit slammed shut over his body, locking into place with a loud _boom_ and pinning his arms to his sides. His suit slid down a short shaft into launch position at the bottom of the _Hodayc. _The suit's transparisteel viewport in front of his eyes cleared and he saw the blue sky and dark clouds far below.

_Okay,_ he thought. _Time to roll_.

He heard a series of muffled _thuds _as the suits in front of him launched. There was a brief moment of silence, then it suddenly sounded as if the world exploded. He plunged into the clouds, plummeting toward the ground. A meter on the side of his HUD showed he was still a couple thousand feet up and a speedometer next to it showed that he was falling over a hundred miles an hour.

The clouds raced past him and the G-forces of his descent tugged at the suit, threatening to tear it apart at the seams. He grimaced, hoping the suit would hold together. Though it was designed for jumps like this, equipment malfunctions weren't uncommon.

"_Shab_, I always hate this part of the jump," someone said over the comm.

"Me too," someone else agreed. "I think I just pissed myself."

There was scattered laughter before the drop leader cut through. She was also in a suit, rocketing through the air toward the plaza. "Keep focused guys. It's almost time to jettison."

"That won't help. I pissed my _beskar'gam_, not the oversuit."

More scattered laughter.

"Okay," the drop leader's voice said. "Almost time to jettison. On my mark…"

Vhetin tensed, bringing up the activator window to jettison the suit and free himself. He still couldn't see anything but clouds racing past his suit.

"In three…"

He balled his hands into fists.

"Two…"

He looked at the activation window. A single blink of his eyes would trigger the detonation sequence.

"One! Detonate suits now!"

Vhetin blinked and the detonation caps set about the oversuit exploded, fragmenting the armor plating and sending the pieces flying off into the sky. He spun head-over-heels in freefall for a few moments, his arms and legs flailing. He triggered his jetpack and with a sputtering _thoom, thoom, thoom_, the pack coughed and sprang to life. Twin spouts of flame erupted from the pack's rocket tubes, propelling him down through the sky.

"This is Dee-Tee Eighteen," he commed. "I'm clear."

"Dee-Tee Six," a female voice said, "Clear."

"Dee-Tee Nine here. I'm clear."

One by one, the drop troopers confirmed that they were clear of their suits and still on target. Vhetin saw two other friendly contacts on his HUD and fired his rockets, maneuvering his body so he slowly glided over to them as they all continued to fly towards the ground thousands of feet below.

He broke through a tall, rain-heavy cloud and into open air. He saw two other armored forms falling in the distance and shot towards them.

"Vhetin!" one of them greeted, recognizing him by his DT number. "Nice to see you."

"Yeah," Vhetin said, twisting to avoid another large cloud. He pushed his pack to eighty percent thrust output and rocketed through the air. "You guys ready?"

The other DT nodded and said, "Can't wait for the freak show to start."

The drop leader must have heard her comment. "Then you're in luck. Start easing back on the throttle, troopers. We're almost to the ground."

The air around the three troopers suddenly exploded in a flash of bright green light and they cursed, twisting their bodies to glide away from each other and reduce the chances of being hit.

"What the hell was that?" one of them shouted. She spun in mid-air to avoid another bright green explosion.

"AA fire!" the other trooper shouted, yanking his short-stocked rifle from its secure strap on his belt. "We're too close to the ground!"

Moments later he vanished in a blinding explosion of anti-aircraft fire. As the flash of light faded, Vhetin saw his limp body plummet down through the clouds, burnt to a crisp.

"Where the hell are those TIE fighters we were promised?" the other trooper shouted over the open comm. "We're being ripped apart up here!"

"Move!" Vhetin suddenly shouted. He shot toward her at an angle and slammed into her from the side, knocking her off-course but moving them both out of the range of another AA cannon bolt. She cursed for a moment as she struggled to twist herself back on course, then muttered, "_Vor'e_."

"Don't mention it," he said, grimacing as he spun to avoid another cannon bolt. He triggered his comm and shouted, "We're under heavy fire up here. If we don't get those damn TIE fighters soon we won't have enough drop troopers to secure the plaza!"

"I'm working on it!" the drop leader shouted back. He heard her voice on the open comm saying, "_Oribru, oribu!_ We need those TIEs _now_, damn it!"

"The requested fighters are en route," said a calm Imperial voice.

"That's not good enough!" she shouted. "We need them here five minutes ago!"

The AA batteries came into sight as he and the other trooper broke through the last of the cloud cover. They were huge, angular towers mounted on either side of the plaza entrance. As they fell further, Vhetin saw the four gigantic cannon barrels swivel to track their progress through the sky. A bolt from even one of those cannons would kill them both.

He suddenly heard the familiar screeching scream of ion engines and six huge black shapes flashed past him, racing down through the clouds faster than his jetpack could ever carry him.

Six TIE fighters swooped through the sky, blasting clouds into little more than shreds of mist as they passed. Twin streams of bright green cannon bolts flew from the ship's underbellies, raking the ground far below with deadly laser fire.

"This is Katarn Squadron Leader," said a gravelly voice over the open comm channel. "We have the AA batteries in sight. I'm sending bombers in now for a run."

Two bulkier TIE bombers swooped down between the six fighters, firing from their larger underbelly cannons as their fighter escort lit up the plaza with cannon fire.

As he watched, Vhetin saw two of the TIEs get hit with AA fire and spiral down out of control. The ships exploded in tiny detonations of flame far below as they impacted against the plaza surface.

"Bombs away," one of the bomber pilots said. "Hold on to your asses everyone."

The two bombers both fired bright blue orbs at the AA batteries: proton torpedoes. The glowing orbs hit the sides of the huge, angular cannons in their support legs, knocking them on their sides from the sheer force of the explosion. As the batteries fell, a cloud of blue-white flame consumed them, tearing the towers to pieces.

Vhetin craned his neck and saw the other drop troopers break through the clouds and head straight for the plaza. He looked down at his landing zone, preparing to pull up on his jetpack. His timing would have to be perfect.

He saw dark figures sprinting around the plaza, hefting weapons and pointing up into the sky. He recognized the slow, waddling gait of the fat Trandoshan minors.

_How nice_, he thought. _They brought out a welcoming committee_.

When he was still about a hundred feet above the ground he suddenly flipped up, pointing his pack's thrust tubes toward the ground and struggling to hold his position so the acceleration didn't flip him head-over-heels. His rapid descent began to slow until he reached a height of about fifteen feet. He suddenly cut power to his pack and dropped like a rock, pulling his rifle from its strap on his belt.

He rolled when he hit the ground to shed excess momentum and came up shooting. He saw a tall, thin Trandoshan on top of one of the buildings that stretched around the plaza and fired three times. The Trando let out a throaty, hissing scream and fell of the roof.

He heard a roar to his left and he snapped his rifle up, swiveling in that direction and firing twice. A Trandoshan minor was blasted off its feet, dead before it hit the ground.

Around him he could see the other troopers hitting the ground and commencing their attack, sprinting for cover around and letting loose with a barrage of blaster bolts that lit up the plaza. Trando bodies fell all around them.

Vhetin ducked a slash from an arm-length Trandoshan blade and drove his fist into a Trando minor's flabby stomach. The creature let out a gasp and fell onto its back. Vhetin put a boot on its chest and shot it twice.

Another Trandoshan barreled toward him with a roar. Instinct kicked in and he scooped up the fallen Trando's dagger. He threw it with all his might and the blade sunk into the charging Trando's neck. The alien twisted and fell.

He turned just in time to avoid a spray of projectile shotgun pellets. He spun and caught the attacking lizard with a roundhouse kick to the side of the head before firing twice into its chest.

He suddenly heard a deafening roar and something huge hit him in the small of his back. He sprawled forward onto his chest, his rifle bouncing out of his grasp. He scrambled after it, but he heard heavy footsteps behind him. He rolled over onto his back in time to see a huge Trandoshan stomping after him. The thing was huge, at least nine feet tall, and had hulking muscles that would make a Barabel look skinny. It sported heavy body armor, razor-sharp blades on its gauntlets, and was hefting an angular projectile repeater.

The Trando Elite roared at Vhetin, baring its long, sharp teeth. Vhetin scrambled away from the huge alien as quickly as he could. He unclipped one of his lightsabers from his belt and activated it. The blue blade sprang to life with a loud _snap-hiss_.

The Trando leveled its heavy repeater and Vhetin rolled away just as the weapon spat out a stream of projectile bullets that would have torn right through him. As Vhetin rolled away, the alien stepped forward and slammed the serrated barrel of its repeater into the ground near Vhetin's head. The barrel embedded itself in the duracrete with a _crunch. _

Vhetin grunted and planted his boot in the creature's chest. He knocked his attacker away before scrambling to his feet. The Trando quickly regained its footing and raised its repeater again. Vhetin moved fast, jumping forward and slashing down at the weapon's barrel. The thick cylinder of metal bounced across the ground, leaving the repeater useless.

The huge Trandoshan threw the heavy weapon aside before slamming its meaty fist into Vhetin's helmet faceplate. He was knocked off his feet again, skidding across the ground from the force of the blow. The Trando stomped after Vhetin. It bent down, grabbed him by the helmet, and picked him up bodily before slamming him against the wall of the building hard enough to crack the duracrete.

Vhetin struggled ineffectively for a moment. He grimaced as the Trando tightened its grip on his helmet, hoping to crush his skull in its massive hand. He grabbed the Trando's wrist and slashed his lightsaber up, severing the Trando's arm at the shoulder. The creature roared in pain and staggered away as its arm fell to the ground with a dull _thud._

Seizing his advantage, Vhetin stepped forward and slashed his saber across the huge alien's chest before kicking it in the stomach and sending it sprawling. The Elite took a shuddering breath and went limp.

Vhetin stared at the dead alien for a moment and took a deep, calming breath before sprinting back toward his fellow jump troopers. He joined up with a small group of Protectors fighting their way toward the cover of one of the downed TIE fighters.

"Thermal contacts show ten more hostiles!" shouted the woman Vhetin had dropped with earlier. "Take 'em down!"

Vhetin and three other Mandos fell into a small group, sprinting for cover behind one of the crashed TIE fighters. Projectile shotgun pellets caught one of the Protectors in the shoulder and he shouted in pain, falling to his knees. Another Mandalorian somersaulted out from behind cover, unloading a full magazine of blaster bolts into a charging Trandoshan's stomach. She helped the man to his feet and they both sprinted back to cover.

Vhetin spotted another Trandoshan on a nearby rooftop and took him down with a well-placed shot to the face. The lizard stiffened and crumpled without a sound.

"Nice shot," one of the Mandos chuckled, nudging him in the shoulder.

He suddenly heard a loud hiss and a lanky Trandoshan appeared, leaping up on top of the downed TIE fighter. It hefted two heavy daggers in each hand and it snarled at them, arching its back and hissing. Long tendrils of saliva dripped from its tooth-studded mouth.

"Contact!" Vhetin heard someone shout. "Contact!"

He moved to bring his rifle to bear but the Trando was fast. It leaped down and planted a taloned foot in Vhetin's chest, sending him crashing onto his back. It let out a warbling roar and raised its daggers, rushing for him as he scrambled back out of its reach.

He brought his gauntlets up just in time to block a slash to his face with both daggers. He grunted and shoved the Trando's arms off, kicking the alien in the chest and sending it staggering away. A Mandalorian caught it in a tight bear hug from behind, pinning its arms to its sides before grabbing one of its daggers and driving it into the lizard's back. The Trandoshan screamed and struggled for a moment before going limp. The Protector nudged it in the back with his knee and let the dead alien fall to the ground with a crash.

The plaza was suddenly still, the silence broken only by the voices of Supercommandos as they called back and forth to each other that they were clear.

"Thanks for that," Vhetin said as the Mando helped him to his feet.

"No problem," the man replied. He shouldered his rifle and pressed two fingers to the comlink mounted on the side of his helmet. "Dee-Tee Twelve here. The plaza is secure. Send down the dropships."

"Copy that, Dee-Tees," came the gravelly voice of Tobbi Dala. "Good work, _vode_."

The man nodded, then turned back to the fallen Trandoshan. He bent over, grasping the handle of the dagger that protruded from the alien's back. He yanked it out with a grunt.

"_Ke nu'jurkadir sha Mando'ade_," he muttered, wiping green blood off the blade, "_aruetii_."

* * *

Jay stood nervously in the passenger bay of the dropship. She grasped the safety rail above her head tightly, watching the on-duty deck officer as he directed the dropships.

"This is Dala," came a voice over the shipboard intercom. "The Drop Troopers just reported in. The plaza is clear. Troop transports, you're cleared for departure."

"Dropship Tee-Twenty-Fifteen heavy," the pilot of their LAAT/i transmitted. "Affirmative. Waiting for your call."

The rest of the dropship pilots checked in, signaling that they were ready to take off. Jay's heart began to pound in a mixture of nervousness and excitement as Dala said, "There will be a Skyraptor squadron escorting the dropships down. Show them courtesy, okay?"

"Will do, _Dal'ika_," one of the pilots said. "I'll treat the flyboys nice."

Then the deck officer gestured to the dropship Jay was in and once again pulled down his fist, mirroring his earlier motion.

The passenger bay doors suddenly slammed shut with a resounding _boom_ and she was thrown into pitch-blackness. She heard a series of metallic clanks before the ship lurched under her feet. She felt a slight wave of nausea, like her stomach was crawling up into her throat, as the dropship began a rapid descent through the sky. Light began flashing through the flaps in the passenger bay doors, lighting up the interior of the dropship like strobe lights at a Coruscant nightclub.

"Are the descents always this bumpy?" she asked, her voice shaking as she was bounced around by the turbulence.

"Every single time," Brianna replied as the deck bucked beneath their feet.

Jay heard the familiar roar of a Skyraptor fighter's engines and saw a sleek, contoured shape block out the light streaming in through the dropship flaps. Then an equally familiar voice crackled over the intercom.

"Skyraptor Escort Twelve here," the voice said. "You guys look clear from out here. Wow, those Imps really bombed the _osik_ out of those AA towers."

"Mack?" Jay asked over the ship-to-ship comm channel. "Is that you?"

There was silence over the comm, then the man said, "Nice to hear from you, Jay. I'm surprised you're here."

"I am too," she admitted. "This isn't exactly a normal afternoon for me."

"I don't mean to be rude, but I'm forced to again question your sense of self-preservation. You just narrowly escape death by Mandalorian assassins and then you sign up to go on this crazy assignment?"

Mack had been there when Jay had become the target of Mandalorian assassins. He'd been wounded in a fight against the killers but had escaped a medcenter in order to check up on her. She had found him to be a trustworthy companion during those stressed and fearful days.

"Yeah," she said, "well you know me. I'm always looking for new ways to get myself killed."

"I would say _good luck_ but I think that would send the wrong impression."

"It would," she laughed. "But I know what you're trying to say. Thanks, Mack."

"Watch yourself out there," he replied, then his Skyraptor fighter peeled off and disappeared into the clouds.

It was a bumpy five minutes before the pilot said, "All right guys. We're coming up on the plaza now. Looks like the Dee-Tees wiped it clean of life, so you should be able to help set up without fear of getting your heads blown off."

There was a surge of deceleration as the dropship soared into its LZ. It slowed to a stop before Jay felt the ship begin to hover. Either they were waiting for clearance to land or they had reached their destination.

"If you'll look out the right side of the dropship," the pilot said, suddenly sounding like a tour guide, "you'll see the Varista Memorial Plaza, the center of the entertainment district here in Tandori. The city's newest attractions include vicious Trandoshan mercenaries who are just waiting to chop your _gettse _off and hang them on their mantelpieces."

"Yeah, yeah," Rame chuckled as the passenger bay doors slid open, revealing a battle-scarred courtyard just outside. "We get the picture, smartass."

"Make sure to stop by the _ori'ramikad'e _gift shop before you leave to pick up some nice Trando weapons," the pilot said as they stepped out. "The more dedicated among you will also enjoy the scalps and Trando tooth necklaces we'll have in stock before long."

Jay stepped out into the plaza, looking around and surveying the area. The sky above them was full of dark clouds that looked as if they threatened rain. There were tall buildings bordering all sides the plaza, all of which were in various states of destruction. One of the buildings was crumbling from its foundations, its windows shattered and its support struts buckling. The plaza itself looked as if it were blasted to pieces by explosions and huge craters had been carved out of the stone tiles under her feet. There were two huge heaps of twisted and scorched metal lying near the entrance to the plaza; the remains of the destroyed AA towers, she assumed.

She saw that two TIE fighters had crashed during the assault. The wreckage was still flaming and throwing sparks as Mandos hurried to douse the fire. She felt a sudden flash of sadness at the sight of the ruined ships, knowing their pilots hadn't survived the crash.

Elsewhere in the plaza, Mandalorians and their _aruetii _auxiliaries were hurrying around, setting up the base that would serve as the main staging point for the Mandalorian counter-offensive. She saw Protectors setting up tents and temporary plastoid shelters for the more delicate machinery. Near the entrance to the plaza she saw a group of Protectors dragging Trandoshan bodies into a pile and lighting them on fire with quick bursts from their gauntlet flamethrowers.

"Easy disposal of the bodies," said a familiar quiet voice as a Protector fell into step with them. "We don't have the time or resources to bury them. The _schutta_ didn't deserve it either."

"Nice to see you in such a good mood, Vhetin," Rame said. "I take it the drop was a little rough?"

"We lost five drop troopers during the descent and we need everyone we can on this deployment. It was a useless loss."

"Any Mandalorian here would gladly give their lives in service to _te Mand'alor_," Sazh Kisaragi pointed out. "They died honorably."

One of the Mandalorians called to Sazh from across the plaza and he headed toward the man with a nod of farewell.

"Watch yourselves out there," he said as he stepped away.

Vhetin nodded. "You too, _vod_."

"I'll meet up with you guys later."

As their small group wandered closer to the east side of the plaza, Jay saw Shysa and Dala patrolling the perimeter. They had rifles in hand and their helmets were clipped to their belts.

"I want perimeter guards up on to rooftops as quick as we can get 'em up," Shysa was saying. "Four shifts, six hours each."

"Do we have that many men to spare?"

"Draw the guards from the infantry and scout divisions," Shysa said. "I want snipers up top in case the lizards decide to pay us a visit."

"Aye, _Mand'alor_."

As their small group drew closer, Shysa turned to them and nodded in greeting. "_Su'cuy, vode_."

"_Su'cuy, Mand'alor,_" Vhetin, Rame, and Brianna said, almost in unison.

"Nice work on the drop, _Vhet'ika_," the Mandalore said with the hint of a smile tugging at his lips. "Some of the other Dee-Tees tell me you were one of the first ones to hit ground."

"I did what was asked of me," Vhetin replied, shrugging indifferently. "What do you need now?"

"For now? Just sit tight."

"What?" Brianna said. "We're not going to mobilize an attack force?"

"Can't yet," Shysa said. "The _Hodayc_ in orbit is picking up a large Trando force movin' toward our position now. We're settin' up defenses accordingly."

"Any of them need support?" Rame asked.

Shysa grinned. "The snipers could use your help up on guard duty. Thanks for askin' _burc'ya._"

Rame nodded and hefted his sniper rifle. "I'm on it."

Shysa now turned to Brianna. "I know you're not a real supercommando, lass, but I know you're a good mechanic."

She shrugged. "I can handle a hyrdospanner."

"If that's the case, Ume'o could use your help repairin' some of the Skyraptors and latties that were singed durin' the descent. Not exactly honorable work, but-"

She interrupted him. "I'll get right on it."

Shysa nodded and thanked her before turning to Vhetin and Jay.

"And then there's you two," he sighed in mock-weariness, his eyes glinting with amusement. "Vhetin, I know you're a good mechanic as well but I need a special favor from you."

"Name it."

"I need you and your partner to head outside the plaza and talk to Norac. He and his Berserkers are acting up and I need 'em to settle down before they draw too much attention to the rest of us."

"What's he doing?" Jay asked. If everything she'd heard about the Berserkers and their leader was true it was probably nothing good.

"He's…" Shysa hesitated, then said, "well, you'll see when you get over there."

"I'll get right on it," Vhetin said with a nod. He gestured for Jay to follow and set off in the direction of the two massive heaps of destroyed AA tower that flanked the entrance to the plaza.

She hurried to keep up with her partner's brisk pace. "I know this is my first round with the Supercommandos, but it sounds like these Berserkers are more trouble than they're worth."

"Keep that in mind until you see them fight," Vhetin said. "You'll see that they'd be worth it even if they were four times the trouble."

"So what's the deal with this Norac guy?"

"He's basically the Berserker mirror of Shysa. He's the leader of the mountain clans and all the Berserkers in general. He's a veteran of Protector deployments since before the Clone Wars and he's one of the greatest warriors of his people."

"'His people,'" Jay echoed. "You almost sound as if these guys aren't even Mandos."

"They're Mandalorian in name only," Vhetin said. "They don't follow the Supercommando Codex, don't obey _Mand'alor _Shysa, and don't recognize any bond of brotherhood with any Mandos outside their own clans. They're savages, but they're savages that we need."

They emerged onto the street outside the plaza and Vhetin brought his rifle up, scanning the streets and rooftops as he slowed to a cautious walk.

"Keep your guard up," he whispered as she grabbed her own rifle. "We may have secured the plaza, but the rest of the city is still overrun."

"I can believe that," she said, looking around with a grimace.

The city immediately outside the plaza wasn't in any better condition than the interior of the plaza. The streets were pocked and scorched with blaster fire and there were several small fires burning on the streets. There were crashed speeders on both sides of the street, some bearing dried blood smears or twisted puncture marks from shotgun blasts. Ash rained down from the sky in a slow, bleak echo of a peaceful snowfall.

As they continued down the street she saw that a stormtrooper corpse had been hung from a nearby rooftop by its ankles. The man's once-pristine white battle armor was scorched and burned as if he'd been blasted by high-heat flame. His body scraped back and forth across the surface of the building, stirred by the smoky, muggy breeze that wafted through the air. Jay shuddered as they moved on.

"It's so quiet," she whispered. "I feel like I'm walking in the middle of a cemetery."

"You might be," Vhetin whispered back, moving slowly down the street. "We haven't been able to contact any friendly forces since we arrived."

The silence was suddenly shattered by the distant sounds of voices talking and laughing. Vhetin's rifle snapped toward the sound and he listened to the sound a moment. Jay could hear raucous laughter and chanting in _Mando'a. _

Vhetin nodded to himself and muttered, "I think we've found our Berserkers. They're just around the corner."

He stepped cautiously toward the last building on the block. Jay made sure to stay close, uncomfortably aware of the loud sound of splintered duracrete chips crunching under her heavy combat boots.

When they reached the corner, he slowly pressed his back against the building. He leaned over and peeked out around the corner, then signaled that it was clear. He shouldered his rifle again and set off.

He had only taken two steps around the corner when Jay heard the loud clash of metal against metal and he was knocked onto his back with a grunt. She cursed and threw herself around the corner, rifle leveled at the being who had attacked her partner.

But it wasn't a Trandoshan. It was a muscular human male hefting a large durasteel battle hammer. He wasn't wearing chest armor; only heavy work pants and Mandalorian-issue Protector boots. His body was adorned with intricate dark blue tattoos and he had a variation of the Mandalorian mythosaur skull tattooed across his burly chest. His hair was short and dark and his face was as craggy as the face of a cliff.

She stepped in between the big man and her partner, her rifle aimed squarely at his tattooed chest. She narrowed her eyes and said, "Get away from him."

He settled his huge battle hammer across his shoulders and let out a booming laugh. She tightened her grip on her rifle and said, "I'm not joking. Back up now or I'll shoot you."

"Calm down, girl," the man growled. "The bucket-head here just surprised me."

Vhetin sighed as he got to his feet and brushed ash off his armor. "It's all right, Jay."

She glanced at her partner, then back toward the Berserker. She slowly lowered her rifle and stepped away from the big man. He continued to leer at Jay, looking her up and down with a gaze that was definitely not friendly. She adjusted her grip on her rifle, making sure he knew it was well within reach if he decided to try anything.

"I applaud your caution, Droun," Vhetin said as he stepped closer to the Berserker. "But I would think even you could tell the difference between an armored Mandalorian and a reptilian Trandoshan."

The huge man shrugged. "You're both green, bucket-head. Get over yourself."

Vhetin let the dig go without response. He just said, "I'm here to talk to Norac."

Droun chuckled. "What, did your squeamish _Mand'alor_ find out 'bout our little security upgrade?"

"Just take me to him."

"No."

"_Mand'alor_'s orders."

"_No_."

"Don't make me-"

"Look," Jay interrupted before anything could get out of hand, "we have orders from Shysa. We just want to talk to Norac and see if we can get him to focus on something more productive than... than whatever it is you're doing. Just let us see him and we'll be on our way whether we get him to change his mind or not."

Droun stared at her for a long time, then shrugged and said, "Whatever you say, girlie. I guess it couldn't hurt."

He turned and stalked off further down the street, hefting his huge battle hammer. He led them into a small niche set into the buildings along the street. There was a group of three wrecked speeders piled up on top of each other just inside the niche

As the huge Berserker led them into the small courtyard Jay saw three different humans lounging about on the pile of speeders, weapons slung across their laps. She surveyed the small recess and saw a total of six Berserkers, all of whom were staring at her and Vhetin with narrowed eyes.

Leaned up against the base of the speeders was a collection of well-worn shields, the likes of which she had only seen in museums. The faces of the shields were decorated with mythosaur skull variants with ancient _Mando'a_ runes around the circular border. The metal edges of the shields looked as if they had been sharpened to a razor-edged blade.

"Do these guys use those?" she whispered to Vhetin.

He nodded. "It's one of their most infamous weapons."

"What damage can a shield do? Isn't that a defensive piece?"

"Not the way Berserkers use it. You can see that they sharpen the edges of the shield so it's a cutting blade. Those things can slice through bone."

She grimaced. "I'll take your word for it."

"Hey Norac! Someone to see ya!" Droun shouted, slamming the handle of his hammer into the duracrete underfoot. The weapon made a loud _bam, bam, bam_ as it slammed into the ground.

Jay felt a sudden wave of nausea as she saw a pile of Trandoshan bodies. There were two Berserkers with huge battle-axes decapitating the bodies and spitting the heads on heavy pikes. She was almost certain her face turned a little green.

At the sound of Droun's voice one of the Berserkers looked up. He had messy black hair and a wild black beard. His eyes were as dark as his hair and glinted malevolently. When he saw Vhetin and Jay he settled his bloodstained axe on his shoulder — much like Droun had done with his hammer — and strode toward them.

"What do _you_ want?" he said aggressively.

"Shysa wanted us to talk to you about your... activities," Vhetin said, nodding towards the Trando heads on pikes. "Couldn't you be helping set up the base?"

"We are," Norac said with a nasty grin. "Think of this as a Trando deterrent. They come knockin' and see these babies set up around the base and they'll think twice about comin' in and messin' with us."

"Or it'll goad them into fighting," Vhetin said. "You know Trandoshans. They don't take threats from anyone."

"What, so you'd rather hide from 'em?" Norac said, cocking his head and sneering. "Typical bucket-head cowardice."

One of the Berserkers, a blonde-haired woman with a tri-pointed spear across her lap, spoke up now. "It'd be better to lure 'em out to fight us in the base, where we're dug in and fortified."

She hopped down off the speeder and stepped toward Norac. "What would you prefer, splitting up and hunting our way through the city? I say we lure the bastards into the plaza, then blow the _osik_ out of the entire place as soon as we're out of there."

"Beten," Vhetin said, bowing his head slightly. "I see you still possess all the subtlety of a speeder wreck."

"Kark you, bucket-head," the woman spat. "I'm a greater warrior than you'll ever be."

"I take orders from _te Mand'alor_, who is a greater warrior than _any_ of you Berserkers will ever be."

The woman, Beten, took a step forward and raised her trident menacingly. Vhetin reached for the hilt of one of his lightsabers. Jay stepped in between the two and held her hands out, separating them. "Whoa, guys. Let's calm down. We're just the messengers here."

"Then you can go back," Beten growled, "and give your dear _Mand'alor _Shysa this message: he can kiss our asses, 'cause the only barve we listen to is Norac."

Jay could almost feel Vhetin's glare through his helmet faceplate as Beten stalked back to the heap of crashed speeders and hopped nimbly up to her former seat at the very top. She settled back into her cross-legged position and leaned on her trident, staring at Vhetin with a scowl.

"I'm not the best judge of character," Jay whispered to her partner as Norac shouted for the other Berserkers to move out, "but I think she likes you."

"If you think that you're blind." He shook his head and turned away. Jay started after him as he began to walk away.

"What, are we just going to leave?"

He didn't answer her. Instead, he called over his shoulder, "Oh, just so you guys know, there's a pretty large force of Trandoshans heading this way. The Protectors are mobilizing to counter. If you want to stop acting like _aruetii_ savages and actually pitch in to help, we'll keep a spot open for you."

There was silence among the Berserkers for a moment before Jay heard Norac shouting, "All right guys, pack it all up and get your gear together. If the bucket-heads are going head-to-helmet against the Trandos, _te Manda_ knows we've gotta be there to hold their hands and keep 'em from pissing themselves."

Jay bit back a laugh and whispered, "Well that worked. That was pretty impressive, Cin."

He shrugged. "What can I say? I know how my _vode_'s minds work. I know what these Berserkers like."

"Fighting?" she guessed.

"Blood."

He suddenly stopped, bowing his head and pressing two fingers to the comlink mounted on the side of his helmet. He was still for a few moments, listening intently, then he nodded and said, "We're on our way."

He straightened and set off toward the plaza entrance at a quick pace. Jay jogged to catch up with him and said, "What was that?"

"That was Shysa," he explained. "Apparently the perimeter guards have spotted the Trandoshans setting up for an attack a couple blocks away. Shysa's scrambling to get the rest of the Protectors unloaded and mobilize the rest for attack."

"So where does he want us?"

"Second-line infantry," he said. "The Berserkers are being deployed as the advance guard."

"Laser fodder," she said. "Interesting way to get rid of people who don't support him."

"They're not being sent out to give the Trandos some target practice," Vhetin said as they turned the corner. "They head out first to soften up the enemy lines before the bulk of the infantry heads in."

"I find it hard to believe that… uh, what's the word, _osik'kov'e_?"

He let out a quick laugh. "You need to watch your mouth, Jay. Language like that would leave even a MandalMotors tech speechless."

"Whatever. I find it hard to believe that _osik'kov'e_ like them are such good warriors."

"Trust me," he said, "you'll be eating those words before too long."

They met up with a group of Mandalorians heading out to the battlefield when they reached the entrance to the plaza. After a short greeting, they joined up with the group.

From the Mandos they learned that the unloading of the _Hodayc_ was almost complete. The plaza was now held over three hundred and fifty Mandalorians and around two hundred members of the support crew and _aruetii_se. Many Mandos were either getting prepped for the upcoming mobilization or lending a hand in setting up the crude plastoid buildings that would serve as a temporary barracks.

Shysa was certain to be pleased. The Protectors were setting up base camp in record time, probably because of the threat of imminent Trandoshan attack.

The Mandos who had already made it to the line of wrecked speeders had set up a kind of tactical base. Protectors were hurrying about, hauling weapons and collapsible turrets to different areas of the barricade to solidify the defenses. There were mobile firing platforms already set up, large satellite-dish-like turrets that moved back and forth as the Mandos at the controls scanned the street in front of them.

Vhetin spotted Brianna nearby and made his way toward her. She was standing just inside a small tent set up behind the speeder barricade. He could see several Mandalorians working inside, typing quickly into holo-terminals and setting up observation equipment. No surprise, he spotted Jaing in the center of it all, directing the other Mandos as they set up the equipment.

"Hey there," Brianna said when she noticed Vhetin and Jay approaching. "You got back just in time. Shysa's ready to raise hell."

"Wouldn't want to miss out on that, would we?" Vhetin said after giving her a quick embrace. He took a step back and nodded to the holo-readout. "What's that?"

"Thermal imaging from the perimeter guards up top," she said, gesturing to the rooftops that surrounded the plaza. Vhetin could see several Mandalorians and auxiliaries lying prone near the roof edges, their rifle barrels extending out into space.

Jay let out a low whistle as she looked at the holographic readout. "Check out all the company we're about to have."

Vhetin looked closer and saw that the image on the readout was a downloaded HUD from inside a Mandalorian's helmet. The holographic heads-up display was currently set to thermal imaging mode, painting the buildings and streets around the plaza a dark bluish purple. But there was also a bright sea of red blobs moving around out there, massing up on a single street and as well as scaling building walls to gain better vantage points.

"Hope you guys are watchin' this," whispered the Mando taking the image. The HUD zoomed in on one of the figures, a huge, bulky mass of muscle and angular armor plating. It was hefting an equally huge rifle, so heavy that the being had to heft it with both hands.

"Looks like they've brought in the big guns," Vhetin murmured.

Jay took a step closer as she stared closer at the readout. "What do you mean? Is that one of those Trandoshan Elites?"

He nodded and turned to one of the Mandalorians standing nearby. "Has Shysa set up barricades?"

The man nodded. "He had a couple Skyraptors haul some of those wrecked speeders out front to make a line of cover for our troopers."

"What's his plan for the Elites?"

"He's outfitted the perimeter guards with rocket launchers and we've set up snipers on the rooftops overlooking that street. Should be enough firepower to get rid of those monsters."

"This can't be their full force," Jay said. "There's got to be only a hundred or so Trandoshans there."

"We think it's an advance force," one of the other Mandos said. "Shysa says we've got to clear 'em out so we can set up the rest of our defense forces."

"Sweep 'n clear operation," the first Mandalorian said. "Simple Protector stuff."

"Could somebody put that in layman's terms?" Jay asked. "You know, for someone who's never been a mercenary before?"

"Simple," Brianna said. "When you get out there, shoot everything that moves."

"Oh. Well that seems simple enough."

Brianna nodded to a large group of some thirty Mandalorians making their way toward the plaza entrance. "They're heading out early. We should probably get out there if we want to get a good seat."

"You talk about this like it's no big deal," Jay said as they set off at a walk towards the street outside.

Brianna shrugged, her heavy shoulder pad creaking slightly as she did. "I've been deployed six times already. I'm used to this stuff."

They passed the toppled AA towers and stepped out onto the street outside the plaza. Vhetin saw that there was indeed a line of wrecked speeder cars arranged in a haphazard line across the street ahead. Beyond the front line, the street was a mess of wrecked vehicles; the Trandos must have taken over during rush hour.

Set up just outside the plaza was a large tent. Inside was a collection of holoterminals and surveillance equipment. There were MandalMotors techs – recognizable by their lack of body armor and their dull red work jumpsuits – busily setting up the machinery inside.

As Vhetin watched, there was a sudden loud _pow_ and a shower of sparks. A familiar gravelly voice shouted, "Damn it, man! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Ah," Brianna said, looking over at the tent. "Looks like someone's acting like some wet-behind-the-ears mechanic in front of Jaing. We should probably get over there before he shoots somebody."

Jaing was kneeling in front of a bank of terminals near the side of the tent, his armor scorched by a scorching discharge of sparks. He was reaching into one of the terminals with a grimace on his face. His arm was buried up to the shoulder inside the terminal and he was cursing as he worked.

"_Su'cuy,_ _vod_," Brianna said to him as they approached. "_Copaanir gaan_?"

The old clone looked up at them and sighed. "Sorry guys. No visitors yet. We're still trying to get this damn equipment set up."

"What are you doing?" Vhetin asked, eying the holo-terminals. Numbers flashed across some of the holographic readouts while others showed what looked like data streams from communication channels.

Jaing gestured to the equipment and said, "Something is screwing with our comms. We think a nearby comm tower is overloading and scrambling our signals or all this ash in the air is coating our signal relays."

"Isn't that what happened with the stormtroopers at the military base?" Jay said.

He nodded and said, "But they managed to get a message through eventually, so we wrote that off as just equipment malfunctioning at a really inconvenient time."

"But now we've got the same problem."

"Yeah, but we're on top of the situation. We're trying to hook up a signal booster so we can communicate with the _Hodayc _and the Imp space station in orbit in case we need reinforcements. Needless to say, it's not going too well."

"If this doesn't work," Jay said slowly, "what are we going to do? We can't just sit down here with no comms."

"We're planning on setting up three signal boosters like this around the plaza," he explained. "The only problem is we'll need extra guards to make sure the Trandos don't screw with 'em. And we just don't have the manpower yet. We need every Supercommando in the fight."

"I'm sure you'll find a way," Brianna reassured him. "You're the resident tech wizard."

"Shh!" Jaing said, glancing over his shoulder. "Don't say that when Ume'o's around here. You know what he's like when he's jealous. He's next to impossible to work with as it is."

They laughed and bid him good-bye as he turned back to the equipment. Jay glanced over her shoulder at him as they went, a worried look in her eyes.

"What's the problem?" Vhetin asked her.

"What? Oh… nothing."

"Something's bothering you."

"It just seems a little too convenient, doesn't it?"

He stared at her. "Being cut off without communication to our forces in orbit is convenient?"

"Not for us," she said. "For the Trandos. I mean, we drop in on them and set up a staging point for a counterattack and all of a sudden we have no comms?"

"You think the lizards are jamming us?"

"I think they have something to do with this. Maybe they sabotaged the comm towers to overload and cut off communication with the city."

"I guess it's possible," Vhetin said, "but Trandoshans aren't known for being the cleverest beings in the galaxy."

"Besides," Brianna piped up, "once we take out this attack force we'll be able to push forward to the comm towers and start repairs."

"I guess you're right," Jay said, looking up at the cloudy sky. "Fingers crossed we all make it out of this, huh?"

Brianna nudged her in the shoulder. "Cheer up. This is just the first counteroffensive. No big deal here."

"Nice to know that the woman who's supposedly watching my back has such a laid-back attitude toward the vicious mob of Trandoshans coming to kill us."

"We'll be fine," Vhetin said. "We've got an entire army of Mandalorians at our back."

"If what you told me earlier about Galidraan was true," she pointed out, "then sometimes even Mandalorians aren't enough."

Vhetin had to admit that she had a point.

* * *

It was about half an hour before Shysa and Dala showed up with the last of the Protectors. By then most of the Mandalorians had assembled into orderly ranks about twenty-five soldiers across and fourteen deep. The fifty assembled Berserkers prowled back and forth in front of the army, hefting huge battle-axes, hammers, or other crude weapons of war in one hand and holding their huge circular shields in the other.

The Berserkers had still decided to forgo heavy battle armor. As they paced restlessly back and forth in front of the army, Jay saw that the women would fight in little more than work pants and cloth tank tops while the men would fight bare-chested. Since the order to set up, the mountain Mandos had traced over their intricate tattoos with green Trandoshan blood, making them look all the more fearsome.

Jay fidgeted as she waited, uncomfortable in her bulky armor. A MandalMotors design created specifically for _aruetii _auxiliaries on deployment, the armor was made of a rigid fiber material that was shaped similar to the hourglass shape of the sparring armor she'd used during melee practice. It wasn't as durable as beskar but was more than enough protection to stop a blaster bolt and even small arms projectile fire. The armored black combat vest and ribbed survival gauntlets reminded her of urban riot police back on her homeworld of Corellia.

Protection aside, though, she wasn't used to fighting in such a bulky outfit. She didn't know how that would affect her abilities in the coming battle. She hoped it wouldn't get her killed.

_Killed because I'm too well-protected_, she thought, rolling her eyes. _That would be an ironic death._

The dark clouds above had begun to release a soft, drizzling rain when Shysa's lanky frame strode in front of the ranks, accompanied by the much bulkier figure of Tobbi Dala.

"All right, lads and lasses," Shysa called, clapping his hands together. "By now you all know why we're all out on this lovely day."

There were scattered murmurs throughout the crowd. Shysa paused for a moment, talking with a few Mandos in the front row or shaking their hands before raising his voice and continuing.

"Further down the street," he said, gesturing to the wide road at his back, "we got ourselves a horde of bloodthirsty lizards just waitin' to rip into us."

Jay had to crane her neck to see over the heads of the Mandos in front of her. She and Vhetin were stationed in the second line of infantry, so close to the front that Jay could hear the crunch of Shysa's heavy combat boots on the splintered duracrete chips underfoot as he paced back and forth.

"Now, for this assault," he said, "we're going to let our Berserker _vode_ take the first attack. Norac, I'm sure you and your soldiers are ready?"

The Berserker leader leaned on his battle-axe. "As ready as we'll ever be. Just point us at the enemy."

Shysa pointed down the street. "That way, _vod_."

"Ha ha," Norac said sarcastically. "Very funny, bucket-head."

"You watch your language," Dala snarled, clenching a fist.

Norac was about to say more when a shrill reptilian screech split the silence, echoing toward them from further down the street. Shysa looked over his shoulder and chuckled quietly.

"Sounds like the lizards are getting impatient," he said. He turned back to the assembled Mandos and continued, "This is a simple sweep 'n clear operation, everyone. We need to punch through the Trandoshan lines so we can set up some comm signal boosters so we can communicate with the _Hodayc_ in orbit."

"So it's true," a Mandalorian said. "We're cut off?"

"Not from each other," he said. "Our short-range comms still work. But something is scrambling our long-range sensors, yes. So we'll need your help fixing that problem."

Another shrill screech and Shysa clapped his hands together. "Okay lads, let's get this show on the road. The snipers are deployed up top and will be giving you cover fire. If you need help, transmit your location to the snipers and they'll help you out."

A sudden flash of fire exploded from down the street and Jay could hear the rumble of hundreds of reptilian feet. Shysa turned toward the sound, pulling his helmet over his head. He stepped back and the ranks of Protectors parted to give him a space as he took his place in the first line of infantry.

A huge mass of Trandoshans rushed toward them from down a side street. Jay's heart skipped a beat as she saw at least a hundred Trandoshans, some of them holding angular shotguns and others holding deadly looking daggers. She could also see several Trandoshans that towered above the others, shoving smaller aliens aside as they charged. They were at least ten feet tall and stomped through the army with heavy, lumbering footsteps.

"Trandoshan Elites?" she asked Vhetin.

He nodded, flexing his grip on his rifle.

The Trandoshans stopped about eighty meters from the Mandalorian lines. They raised their rifles and roared at their enemies.

"All right," Shysa said, shouting to be heard over the Trandos. "Get ready! Norac, you're up!"

Norac turned to his own Mandalorians and raised his battle-axe over his head. His eyes blazed as he shook the weapon and shouted, "_Kote!"_

The assembled Berserkers beat their chests and roared back, "_Kote!_ _Darasuum kote!"_

"_Parjai bal kote!_"

"_Parjai bal kote_!"

Norac turned to the onrushing mass of Trandoshans and grasped his axe firmly with both hands, his arm looped through the straps of his shield. His Berserkers formed up behind him as he pointed his axe at the enemy and screamed, "_Rangir aruetiise!_"

"_Rangir aruetiise_!" the Berserkers echoed, then surged forward. They sprinted for a few meters before splitting up into little more than a mob. They leapt up onto the roofs of crashed speeders that clogged the street ahead, shouting and cursing at their enemies while shaking their weapons over their heads. At Norac's signal they began pounding their weapons against the faces of their shields and letting out screams of rage and defiance. The sounds sent shivers down Jay's spine; she'd never heard anything like it. She hadn't even known human vocal cords could make an otherworldly sound like the screaming roars of the Berserkers.

Hearing the screams of the Mandalorians, the Trandos roared back their own battle cry and shook their leathery heads. They were close enough that Jay could see long tendrils of drool dripping from their mouths.

"_Mando'ade!_" Norac screamed, pounding his axe against his shield. The loud _clang clang clang_ could be heard even over the shouting of his fellow Berserkers.

He lowered his axe, pointing at the Trando lines and bellowed, "_Jurkadir!_"

With a roar the army of Berserkers sprinted forward, leaping from one speeder roof to another, pausing sporadically to slam their weapon against the face of their shield.

"Hold," Shysa shouted as the Berserkers neared the enemy lines. "Wait until they've broken through the front lines."

"What is he talking about?" Jay whispered to Vhetin. "Those Trandoshans have shotguns! They'll be ripped apart!"

Jay had barely begun her statement before she was proved wrong. She saw Norac leap off a speeder and land right in front of the Trandoshan lines. The lizards in the first lines snarled at him and raised their shotguns.

Norac raised his shield just as the aliens fired. The shotgun rounds bounced off his _beskar_ shield with a loud _bam_ before he stepped forward and slammed the shield against the Trando's face. The alien sprawled back on his back as Norac pivoted and slashed his battle-axe across another Trandoshan's chest. A spray of bright green blood splashed across Norac's face but he didn't pay it any mind.

All around him the other Berserkers slammed into the Trandoshan lines. There was no grace or tactical skill to their attack; they simply smashed into the Trandoshan lines and began hacking away with their crude weapons. Green blood sprayed through the air, spattering the Berserkers from head to foot. As Jay watched in a mixture of awe and revulsion as she saw Beten drive her three-pronged spear through a Trando's chest before swinging her shield at another. The sharpened rim caught the alien in the neck, taking his head off at the shoulders. The woman screamed in rage and yanked her weapon from the first dead Trando before moving on.

"Wait for it…" Shysa shouted, watching the Berserker's process intently. "Wait for it…"

Norac and his Berserkers fought on, swinging and stabbing their weapons with deadly force. Like their first assault, their fighting style lacked any kind of skill or grace. They just laid into their enemies, hacking and slashing with their crude weapons. At the sheer brutality of the Mandalorian attack Trandoshan bodies began to fall in piles and green blood flowed in rivers across the ground.

As Jay watched, the Trandoshan front line buckled. Aliens in the center scrambled away from the Mandalorian onslaught and the two sides surged forward to try and compensate. The Berserkers grew closer and closer to being surrounded.

"Now!" Shysa shouted.

With a collective shout, the army of Mandalorians surged onto the street. Jay sprinted forward as fast as she could, more to avoid being crushed by the Mandos around her then by any feeling of exhilaration. She leaped up onto the roof of a speeder and fired her rifle. She fired two shots at the closest Trando she could see. As the alien fell she began hopping from speeder to speeder, heading for the Trandoshan lines. She drew closer and saw that the fifty Berserkers were now completely surrounded by snarling, drooling aliens.

"Hit 'em!" she heard Shysa shout from somewhere else on the street.

The Mandalorians spread out, taking cover behind wrecked speeders or diving through windows in the buildings that flanked the street. Moments later multi-colored blasterfire lit up the street.

Jay ducked down into a gap between two nearby speeders before simply mashing her finger on the trigger of her rifle and spraying the Trandoshan lines with blaster fire. Many of the aliens simply absorbed the laser bolts and did nothing but roar even louder. She ducked back down behind the speeder as shotgun pellets ricocheted off the surface of the speeder in front of her.

Her ear-mounted comm unit was flooded with the shouts of fighting Mandos and auxiliaries.

"Tem! You've got a Trando behind you!"

"Drop that target! Drop him _now_!"

"This is Flemming. I'm sighting in on an elite… ha ha! Lizard down."

"_Gah_! I'm hit... Damn, I need a medic!"

She turned down the comm volume and focused on dropping the Trandoshans nearest to her cover. She popped up, fired for a moment, then ducked back down before the aliens could pin down her location.

"Jay," someone said over her comm. She recognized Rame's voice.

She pressed a finger to her comlink earpiece. "Rame? What do you need?"

"You've got incoming hostile contacts in front of your speeder. They're heading for Dala."

"You want me to take care of them?" she asked, peeking over the hood of the speeder.

"I would drop them, but I don't have a clear shot. It's hell down there."

"Tell me about it." She said sarcastically as she found the three Trandoshans making their way for Shysa's second-in-command. She slowly rested her rifle against the hood of the speeder to steady her shot, sighting in on the lizards.

She squeezed of six precise shots, two for each Trandoshan. The aliens crumpled to the ground just as Dala turned to deal with them. He saw their bodies on the ground and turned his helmeted gaze to find his savior. He spotted Jay crouching behind her speeder and nodded slightly. She nodded back before ducking back down.

She activated her comm. "Cin? Vhetin, where the hell are you?"

"Right here." Vhetin suddenly jumped down behind the speeder as well, firing twice before he landed. He cursed as a shotgun blast caught him in the shoulder, scratching the paint off the armor plate. He ducked as another shot flew over his head.

"Those aliens really aren't messing around," he grunted. "How're you doing?"

Jay stuck her head up from behind the speeder and sprayed full automatic fire toward the Trandoshans for a few moments. She ducked back down before fire grew too thick.

She cursed. "The Berserkers are still cut off. We're going to lose them if we don't get down there."

"Call in the snipers," he said, firing twice over the hood of the speeder. He ducked as a Trandoshan fired at him before shooting quickly at the lizard. Jay heard a loud reptilian scream.

"Rame?" she said into her comm. "Rame-"

She shouted in surprise as a Trandoshan suddenly leaped onto the roof of her speeder. She ducked as the alien fired a shotgun blast at her face. The spray of pellets missed her and she scrambled back to avoid another shot.

Vhetin stepped between her and the Trandoshan, whipping his fist across the alien's face. The creature roared and grabbed Vhetin's throat.

Too late. Vhetin jammed his rifle barrel into the creature's stomach and fired three times. The Trando writhed and toppled back over the speeder and out of sight.

Jay scrambled forward, more out of instinct than anything else, and scooped up the fallen creature's shotgun. Then she sat back and rested her head against the speeder behind her, pausing a moment to catch her breath. Then she activated her comm unit again and continued, "Rame, come in. Are you there?"

"What do you need?"

"The Berserkers are cut off from the rest of the Mando forces," she said. "They need support, but we can't get in to help them. They need cover fire now!"

"I'm on it," he said. "I'll get the other snipers to help 'em out. Anything else?"

"Just that, unless you can-"

She was cut off as she heard a loud _bam_ and Vhetin was suddenly thrown back against the speeder behind him. He slammed against the speeder door hard enough to dent the surface and crumpled.

"Vhetin!" she said, moving forward to kneel next to him. "Are you all right?"

Before he had a chance to reply she heard a deafening roar and something big hit the other side of the speeder she was using for cover. She froze and turned in time to see a huge Trandoshan Elite stomp up over the hood. The creature sported a large two-bladed vibrosword and its heavy battle armor was splattered with dark red blood.

"Damn it," Jay cursed as the Trando leaped for her. She rolled back over the hood of the speeder behind her as the Elite's sword slammed down where she had stood. The blade carved a deep gash out of the duracrete.

The Elite stomped up and over the speeder, the metal surface bending with a tortured groan under the alien's weight. As she retreated Jay raised her stolen shotgun and fired. The metallic pellets just bounced off the Trando's heavy chest plate.

Jay was about to call for help when another huge figure barreled into the Trando from the side, knocking the massive alien over. Jay started in surprise as the second figure – a human – slammed the Elite into the side of a nearby speeder. The man took a step back and slammed his huge battle hammer into the alien's chest, crushing the armor. The man didn't stop there, though. He just continued to lay into the Trando, beating every inch of it with his deadly hammer. Jay suddenly heard a sickening _crunch_ and the alien slumped over, dead.

The man towered over the corpse, breathing hard and gripping his hammer so tight his knuckles were white. After what seemed like an eternity he turned to Jay and fixed her with a dark glare.

"Damn Trando scum," he grunted. "They're barely tough enough for this to be considered a fair fight."

"Droun?" she said. The man was barely recognizable; his entire muscular body was covered from head to toe in pale green Trandoshan blood. He was bleeding from several wounds to the arms and chest, including a nasty-looking shotgun wound to the shoulder.

He just sneered at her. "Don't make me have to save your life again, girlie."

She nodded nervously and watched as he stomped off, hefting his huge hammer. As soon as he was gone she scrambled back toward Vhetin.

She found him fending off a lanky Trandoshan with two wickedly curved daggers. He was gripping both of the alien's wrists, holding the blades away from his throat. The chest of his armor's flight suit was stained red and his arms were shaking from exertion.

Jay quickly fired her shotgun at the Trando's back, blasting the alien off its feet. Vhetin collapsed backward as the alien fell on top of him. He shoved it off with a grunt as she knelt next to him.

"Sorry about that," she said, helping him up. "Are you all right? It looked like you were shot earlier."

He grunted and struggled to rise to his knees. "I'm… I'm all right," he gasped, clutching at his chest plates. "I just… took a shotgun spray to the chest."

"You're bleeding," she said. A dark stain was spreading across the pale gray jumpsuit beneath his green-painted chest plates.

He shook his head dismissively. "I'm fine. Just a little scrape."

She stared at him, but knew better than to argue. She just moved back to her earlier cover and peeked out at the Trando front lines.

Things had deteriorated dramatically in just the first few minutes of the fight. The previously well-organized Trandoshans had dissolved into a mob of slobbering, roaring lizards. Brightly colored blaster fire flashed through the air, knocking Trandos in the front line off their feet. Flame sprayed from the contoured barrels of alien shotguns.

Jay instinctively ducked as the loud _bam_ of projectile sniper rifle fire rang out from the street behind her. A Trandoshan near her speeder roared and fell with a spray of green blood. She was almost deafened by the sounds of weapons fire, Trandoshan roars, and the screams of Mandalorians. It was everything she could do to keep herself from dropping her rifle and covering her ears.

Further down the street, the Berserkers were fighting their hardest to free themselves from the Trando lines, hacking away at their enemies with furious resolve. Jay could see them clearly from her vantage point some twenty meters away, their hair flying wildly about their heads and their faces, chests, and arms spattered with pale green blood. They were screaming as they fought and their eyes were almost rolled back in their heads.

She stared in wonder as she heard that they were _laughing_. They were cackling and screeching their heads off as they waded through the enemies, lopping off limbs and heads with their heavy weapons. She had never seen such violence in her entire life.

"Keep fighting, lads!" Shysa shouted. "We're pushing them back! We've got 'em on the run!"

"Do we?" Jay shouted to Vhetin over the noise. "It doesn't look to me like they're retreating!"

"…-ey're not!" Rame suddenly cried over the comm. His voice was interrupted sporadically by bursts of static. "They… falling back… flank you guys! Get out of there!"

"What?" Vhetin said, still holding his bleeding chest.

"They're going… side street!" Rame shouted through the static. "Fall back before… surrounded!"

Shysa cut over Rame's transmission, shouting with urgency. Like Rame, his voice was cut with static. "The Berserkers are clear! I repeat… Berserkers are clear! Every… all back… fore we're encircled!"

"What the hell is wrong with the comms?" Jay shouted, popping up from behind cover and spraying the approaching Trando lines with fire. Three aliens toppled, but the rest just trampled their fallen comrades in their haste to overwhelm the Mando lines.

A hulking Berserker spattered with green blood suddenly threw himself over the hood of the speeder. He collapsed in a heap, letting out a gravelly chuckle. He shook hair out of his eyes and growled, "Aye, there's nothin' like killin' some lizards to wake you up in the mornin'."

"Droun," Vhetin said, still holding his chest. "You look like you've seen better days."

The Berserker had a large cut over his eye, a shotgun wound in his muscular shoulder, and his entire body was battered and bloodied by both Trando blood and his own.

The huge man chuckled nastily, leaning on his heavy battle hammer. "You don't look so good yourself."

Vhetin grabbed hold of the speeder behind him, hauling himself to his feet. The entire front of his chest was stained red now, but it didn't seem to be impeding his ability to move. He just shouldered his rifle and jerked his head behind him.

"Come on," he said, sounding only slightly out of breath. "Let's get out of here before we're trapped."

Jay's comm suddenly sputtered and Shysa's voice said, "…hetin? Jay? You with me, _vode_?"

Vhetin put a hand to his helmet-mounted comlink and said, "Vhetin here. What do you need?"

"…extraction job," the Mandalore said. "Ramser shifted position… different building to slow… -andoshan advance… discovered his position and surrounded him. He's pinned down… need someone to get in there and help him out."

Vhetin clambered up over the hood of the speeder, keeping low to avoid shotgun fire. "We're on it, _Mand'alor_. We'll get him out of there, then all fall back to the plaza."

"… -ake it quick would you? This whole counteroffensive… going to _haran_."

"What's going on?" Jay asked over her own comm headset. "One minute you say we're pushing them back, then we're about to be surrounded? And what the hell is wrong with comms?"

"…Trandos brought up more reinforcements than… -repared for… swarmed up some of the side streets. I deployed snipers to slow… -til the infantry could pull out… weren't fast enough. Some of them were overrun. I'm sending… teams to get them out… -on't know what's wrong with comms. Jaing's… -orking on it."

"How are you going to deal with the bulk of the Trando force?" Vhetin asked as he sprinted from speeder roof to speeder roof. Jay was right behind him, struggling to keep up with his better-than-average abilities. "There still has to be a hundred of them."

"I'm sending… Canderous tanks to clear… out. I'd suggest… -et out of there quick. Those mass driver cannons can… whole lot of damage and they're bloody inaccurate at short range. I'm pulling everyone off the street… regroup at the plaza."

"Are we being pushed back?"

"'Course not... haven't suffered a single casualty yet. But keeping Protectors deployed… just asking for trouble."

"Aye, _Mand'alor_," Vhetin said, then signed off the comm. He grunted and rubbed his chest, then said, "Let's get on it. The sooner we get Ramser out of there, the sooner we can fall back and regroup with the rest of our forces."

"Where is he, exactly? Shysa didn't specify."

"He transmitted his location to my HUD," Vhetin explained. "It just barely made it through whatever crap is scrambling the transmission. Just keep close to me and I'll get us there."

* * *

Vhetin's chest felt like it was on fire, but he couldn't let it affect him. Not while Ramser was pinned down and needed help. He scrambled from speeder roof to speeder roof, aware of the Berserkers retreating just behind him. Jay was also at his side, struggling to make it through the clogged street. A disorienting mix of comm static and the roars of Trandoshans almost drowned out his helmet's audio receptors.

"Come on!" he shouted and ducked as a shotgun blast rang out just behind him. He saw that Mandos who had already retreated a safe distance were massing at the head of the street to hold back the Trando advance to buy the Canderous tanks time to get into position. As he sprinted closer, he saw the long line of soldiers raise their rifles.

"_Volley_!" someone shouted.

"_Shab!_" he shouted, gesturing at Jay. "_Get down_!"

He dove behind the cover of a speeder, Jay right beside him. The colossal clamor of over a hundred rifles firing simultaneously overloaded his helmet's receptors for a moment. There was a blinding flash of light as hundreds of multi-colored blaster bolts flew overhead.

He spun and looked back at the advancing Trandos just as the volley hit. The aliens in the front row crumpled instantly, dead before they hit the ground. The advancing lines, driven on by their frenzy for blood, tumbled over the bodies. Trandos toppled over each other with roars and hisses of surprise, slowing their approach.

"Okay," Jay said, looking back at the Mandalorian lines. "They're gesturing for us to move up. We're clear."

"Let's not keep them waiting," he grunted, grimacing as he hauled himself to his feet again.

They reached the corner of the street without further incident. The Mandalorians there were milling about, watching the approaching Trandoshans intently. Every few minutes they would release another deadly volley of blaster fire at the Trandoshans. Jay had to cover her ears at the explosive sound of hundreds of rifles firing at once. The volley was louder than the firing of a Star Destroyer's turbolaser cannon.

As they slipped through the Mando lines, a white-armored medic stepped forward and caught Vhetin's arm.

"Hey _vod_. Are you all right?" the man asked, gesturing at Vhetin's bloody flight suit.

He shook the man off. "I'm all right. It's just a flesh wound."

"You need to come with us to the first-aid tent. You need that wound dressed right away."

"I have orders from Shysa that say I don't have time."

The medic sighed and muttered, "You damn Supercommandos never listen… all right, just take this and administer it as soon as possible."

Vhetin turned just as the medic tossed him a thick round canister. He caught the canister and cocked his helmeted head at the medic questioningly.

"Medfoam," the man explained as two other medics struggled toward him, hauling a bloodied Protector between them. "Apply it as soon as you can and it'll stop the bleeding for a time."

"Got it," Vhetin said, clipping the canister to his belt.

"Then get your ass to the medical tent!" the man called after him as he set off again.

Jay suddenly called him back. He turned and cocked his head in curiosity. She shouted, "What's wrong with comms?"

He shook his head. "Something's jamming us. We don't know what it is. We've lost all our long-range comms and the short-range channels are breaking down as we speak."

She frowned and thanked him before turning and nodding to Vhetin. They set off at a sprint down the street in the direction of the coordinates Shysa had given him.

"So where is Ramser?" she asked as they ran.

"A local bank," he explained. "He's holed himself up on the tenth floor. From what Shysa's been able to pull from nearby traffic cams, the Trandoshans are trying to get into the building. There are quite a few of them, apparently."

She hefted the shotgun she'd stolen from the dead Trandoshan and muttered, "I don't care how many there are. Even they can't withstand a shotgun spray to the face."

"That's the spirit," he said. He chuckled quietly then broke down in gasping coughs. He rested an arm against the building face next to him to prop him up.

Jay was almost instantly standing in front of him and staring at him with a concerned gaze. "Hey," she said slowly, "are you sure you're okay?"

He nodded. "I'm fine."

"You may have a punctured lung from that shotgun blast," she said. "Maybe we should see the medics before we head out."

"Ramser won't last that long," he said. He straightened out and took several long, deep breaths. "See? I'm fine."

She narrowed her eyes at him, obviously unsure whether or not to believe him. After a few moments she sighed and said, "All right then. If you say you're fine then let's go."

They set off at a jog in the direction of the bank where Ramser was pinned down. It was a few blocks away from the main Protector lines, but Vhetin could still hear the explosions and loud discharges of blasters in the distance. As they drew nearer to the building his helmet's audio receptors picked up a deep, pounding _thoom, thoom, thoom_ coming from the direction of the main battlefield.

"Sounds like Shysa got those Canderous tanks deployed," Jay observed. She must have heard the sounds as well. "Those mass driver cannons will tear those Trandoshans apart."

"Keep on guard," he reminded her. "That group was just a small force of slavers. This entire city is occupied."

She looked up at the rooftops uneasily. "Don't remind me."

As they ran he gave her the run-down of what he'd learned about the building so far: known as ConfiBank, the building used to be a trusted bank used by many of the Tachadori upper class. Then, about ten years ago, someone had broken in and stolen over thirteen million credits. After that, ConfiBank had burned through _osik_loads of money trying to beef up security. They had completely remodeled the building so the interior was built like a maze.

"A maze?" Jay echoed skeptically. "And Ramser's stuck in the middle of it?"

"Exactly. And so are about thirty Trandoshans if Shysa's readings are to be believed."

"What about escape routes?"

"With the remodel came the idea that there should be no escape routes. Fire escapes were too convenient getaway routes for potential thieves."

"So they sacrificed safety for the sake of security? That's just stupid."

"It's what we're going up against," Vhetin said. "Each floor is completely devoid of fire escapes, windows, or skylights. There are only four ways in or out of the building and they're all on the ground floor."

"So we'll have to fight our way up ten floors to get to Ramser, then fight our way back _down_ ten floors to escape. I'm filled with confidence about this plan. Are there any access shortcuts?"

"I'm looking into that now," Vhetin said. He pulled up the building's schematics on his HUD and scanned through the blueprints. "It doesn't look… wait. There's a lift that runs through a central pillar structure all the way up to the tenth floor. The only problem is-"

"Let me guess," she interrupted. "It has no power."

"Yeah." He glanced at her sideways through his helmet faceplate. "How did you know?"

She gestured along the street, specifically to the overhead halolamps that were set up on each street side. "None of the lights are on. My guess is that the Trandos hit the city power generators underground before starting their full attack."

He nodded, impressed. "Good thinking. But you're right; the turbolift has no power. But if I can get into the maintenance access nearby, I can reroute the power flow to pull energy from my suit. It should power the turbolift long enough for you to get up there and get back down."

"Pulling power from your armor? Are you sure that's safe?"

He nodded. "Just as long as you don't take too long and drain my batteries."

She laughed and said, "Now you're just being a smartass."

"Only partially. If you're not back down within fifteen minutes I'm going to have to unplug or risk losing all my HUD systems. That includes long-range comms, life-sign scanners, and motion trackers."

"Oh. That would not be good."

"In a situation like this? No. It would not be good."

They rounded a corner and the tall ConfiBank building came into sight. Ten stories tall and painted a dull greenish color, the building looked like a huge block of duracrete. There were no windows or external access ways of any kind save for a single door at ground level. Vhetin scowled. He had to admit that Jay was right; turning a building into a veritable prison wasn't exactly prudent planning. It was just irresponsible.

There were two Trandoshans standing guard on either side of the door: a tall and lanky slaver and a squat Trando minor. They prowled back and forth in front of the door, hissing and growling to each other in their guttural voices. They both carried shotguns.

He nudged Jay in the shoulder and nodded toward the two. "When we deal with those two, you may want to stock up on shotgun ammo."

She looked at her weapon and Vhetin saw that it was indeed running low. There were only five cylindrical ammunition shells in its magazine.

"I'll keep that in mind," she whispered. "How many lizards are holed up inside?"

Vhetin switched his HUD over to its powerful scanner mode. The entire area lit up blue, with the Trandos in front of the door flashing orange. Just inside the door were three other aliens milling around the main atrium. There was a sea of orange figures scrabbling around on the sixth floor, and about fifteen more on the tenth floor. There was a single orange-colored shape on the other side of a heavy blast door on the tenth floor.

"Ramser is definitely in there," he said, switching off the scanner. "I can see him on the top floor. Apart from that it looks like you'll have fifteen lizards for company. The rest are on the sixth floor."

"What are they doing?"

He shrugged. "I can't see. They're probably trying to get into the money vaults to get their claws on some Tachadori heirlooms and jewels. This was a pretty high-spec bank, after all."

"That makes sense," she said. She nodded toward the two Trandos out front. "What about those two? If we rush them, they'll raise the alarm."

"I've got them," he said. He rummaged in his belt-pouches for a moment. He hesitated as he noticed that the comlink Brianna had given him was blinking green; he'd missed a call.

_It was probably Bri calling to check in on me_, he thought. He briefly considered calling her back before deciding against it. Ramser needed his help now. He'd call her once they were through here.

After a few more moments of searching he finally pulled out a pack of five razor-tipped darts and clipped them into a receiver on the side of his right gauntlet.

"Darts?" Jay said. "Those aren't part of your normal arsenal."

"I don't usually use them. They're too inaccurate for my taste and the poison they use can be traced. But they're part of the uniform Protector kit and they may come in useful here."

He loaded a dart into the launcher on his gauntlet and raised his forearm, bracing it with his other hand. His helmet's rangefinder swung down and the tiny targeting reticule inside zoomed in on the tall Trandoshan's throat. He let out a quick breath and fired.

There was a quiet puff of compressed air and the dart slashed through the air, hitting the Trando in the throat. The alien twitched and clapped a hand to its neck. It pulled the dart out with thick, clumsy fingers and stared at it with reptilian eyes that wavered in and out of focus. Then it simply toppled over and began frothing at the mouth.

Its fat companion started in surprise and began hissing at the writhing lizard on the ground. Vhetin quickly dropped him with a dart to the stomach. He joined his companion on the ground.

"Nice shooting," Jay said as they sprinted for the door. She grabbed the fallen Trandoshan shotguns and quickly reloaded her weapon, tucking the extra shells into her combat armor's belt packs.

"Remember the plan," he said as they flanked the door. "Get up the turbolift quick, clear the room, and get back down as fast as you can."

She nodded and racked back the loading rod that protruded from the side of her shotgun. "I'll be as fast as humanly possible."

Together they got set for a door breach. They each flanked the door while Vhetin primed a breach charge. He counted off on his fingers before slapping the charge against the door and looking away so as not to be blinded by the explosion.

The heavy door blew inward with a loud _blam_ and Jay threw herself into the room. Vhetin waited the length of a heartbeat so she could get clear of the door before following her. He stepped inside just in time to see Jay fall to her knees and fire her shotgun. The pellet spray from the weapon caught one of the Trando guards in the chest and blasted him off his feet. He snapped his short-stocked rifle up and caught another Trando in a barrage of blaster fire as she barreled into the last alien. She rammed her shoulder into the lizard's chest, knocking him against the wall, and finished him with a hard knee to the face. The lizard groaned and slumped to the floor, unconscious.

He surveyed the suddenly still atrium before nodding and clipping his rifle to his belt. "Nice work, Jay."

She beamed at the praise and said, "I've been practicing since our last contract. Venku's been saying my melee combat skills are lacking."

"Hm. Not any more." He gestured to the lift behind her and said, "Remember the plan. Let's get Ramser out of here."

She nodded and strode toward the lift doors, which were currently jammed shut by power loss. Vhetin switched his HUD to scan the room, looking for the power junction that supplied energy to the turbolift. His HUD quickly found the power cables leading into the turbolift and picked them out in bright green. He tipped his head up and followed the cables as they disappeared into what looked like a maintenance crawlspace in the ceiling.

"Gotcha," he murmured. He grabbed a nearby ladder and set it under the access panel in the ceiling. Once he'd clambered up the metal ladder, a single powerful punch to the access panel knocked it loose from its housing. He slipped up into the maintenance hatch and called down, "Hey, Jay? Do me a favor and move this ladder for me."

She appeared under the access hatch, craning her neck up to look at him. "Why?"

"In case another Trando patrol comes through here. I want to camouflage my location."

"Oh. Okay."

While she was hauling the ladder back to its original location, he slipped the hatch back in place and popped it back into its housing. He switched to Jay's comm channel and said, "Okay. I should be good from here. I'll tell you when I've got power to the turbolift."

"I'll be waiting."

He was forced to crawl on his hands and knees through the maintenance crawlspace – no small feat for a Mandalorian in full battle armor – until he found a small black box set into the wall of the shaft. He pried off the protective lid of the box, the screws popping out of their sockets as he did, and tossed it aside.

Inside were several fuse boxes and power supply sockets, all currently switched off. He quickly found the fuse marked _Ground Floor Turbolift_ and pulled a length of transfer cable from one of his belt pouches. He plugged one end into the power socket next to the fuse, and snapped the other into its socket in the back of his helmet.

There was a loud _snap_ and a shower of sparks. Then a tiny light next to the fuse lit up green.

"Okay," he said over the comm. "You're clear. Get up there and get Ramser."

"I'll be quick," she said. "I promise."

"Make sure you are."

He listened to the sound of the turbolift car slowly rumbling up to the higher levels of the building, then settled back and waited.

* * *

Jay bounced on the balls of her feet nervously and flexed her grip on her stolen shotgun. She could hear the lift car rattling as it brought her closer and closer to the tenth floor, to Ramser, and to the horde of Trandoshans trying to kill him. She double-checked that her weapon's receiver was fully loaded and let out a long breath.

_Now I know why Mandos like all that armor_, she thought. _I would feel a lot better about storming this place if I was covered in _beskar_._

_Then again_, she thought, looking down at her own composite battle armor, _I have to admit this is better than my armorleather jacket. I bet this stuff could stop a blaster round with no problem._

She watched the readout above the lift door as it slowly approached the tenth floor. She flexed her grip on her shotgun and tensed as the readout showed she was passing the sixth floor.

_Wait a second,_ she thought with a sudden rush of adrenaline. If the power was out, the Trandos would be sure to notice the sound of the lift car approaching. If so, they'd be covering the door, waiting to open fire on anything that was waiting inside.

She looked around the small lift car, looking for some way she could keep out of sight. When she couldn't find anything, she sighed and thought, _I guess I'll have to do this a little simpler._

She laid down on her stomach on the floor of the lift, much like a sniper in prone position. In this position, any Trandos firing into the door would shoot right over her head and leave her free to fire at them.

She narrowed her eyes as the car passed the eighth floor, then the ninth.

_What is it that Vhetin says in situations like this? Oya?_

There was a quiet ding as she reached the tenth floor. She heard the lift car grind to a halt and the locking mechanism on the door click open.

_Let's hunt_, she thought. Then the doors hissed open and she instantly heard two loud explosions. She winced as shotgun spray flew over her head. Then she adjusted her grip on her own shotgun up and squeezed the trigger.

A Trandoshan was blasted back off its feet with a hissing roar. The other one started in surprise and aimed its angular shotgun at her. She cursed and rolled to the side before the alien could fire. She scrambled up and charged into the room, slamming her shoulder into the Trandoshan and knocking the lizard off its feet.

As she stepped out onto the marble floor she saw that the room was little more than a collection of durasteel vaults with desks set up in the center of the room and privacy booths along one wall for viewing the contents of deposit boxes. There were about eight other Trandoshans prowling around, sniffing at the vault doors or fighting over boxes of valuables.

If Vhetin's scan had been correct, Ramser had locked himself inside one of these vaults to cut himself off from the Trandos.

She sighed and thought, _Well, I think I gave up the chance of any subtlety when I decided to take a turbolift up here_.

So she took a deep breath and shouted, "Ramser? Trayc Ramser?"

Every Trando in the room spun towards the sound of her voice and she quickly ducked behind a desk. Shotgun blasts tore into the front of the desk and the durasteel floor around her. She reloaded her shotgun and shouted, "Ramser, I know you're in here! If you can hear me, I could sure use some help out here!"

She stuck her head out from behind the desk and fired the shotgun, taking down another lizard. The rest of the aliens, now wise to the fact that she had a weapon, scrambled for cover. They hissed orders to each other in their guttural language and roared barely-understandable obscenities at her.

She peeked out from behind the desk again and looked around the vault room. All the Trandoshans were in hiding now and she could hear them hissing and growling at each other from behind other desks.

She ducked back behind her cover and pulled a stun grenade from her belt. She pushed the primer button and the hourglass-shaped explosive let out a loud whine. She quickly tossed it out in the room and covered her ears.

The floor seemed to buck underneath her and she was almost deafened by the loud _thoom_ of the flashbang exploding. A blinding flash of light erupted from the device and she heard lizards hissing and screaming as they were simultaneously deafened and blinded.

There wasn't a moment to lose. She scrambled out from behind cover, sweeping the room with her shotgun. The Trandoshans were all sprawled across the floor, groaning or rubbing at their eyes. Green blood trickled from their stumpy, leathery ears.

She wasted no time in stepping past them and surveying the huge doors of the vaults. There were five vaults in all, each with a high-security code pad mounted next to the door. The doors were huge, circular portals made of high-grade durasteel. If she had to guess, she'd say they were probably about two feet thick.

She could see why Ramser had decided to barricade himself inside; no amount of Trandoshan firepower would be able to blast through those doors. She doubted even a lightsaber could melt through them.

She pounded a fist against the first door. "Ramser?" she shouted. "Are you in there? I'm a Protector. Shysa sent me."

No answer. She moved on to the next door and repeated her actions. Again, there was no answer.

"Come on, Ramser," she shouted. "I haven't got all-"

She suddenly screamed in surprise as she felt a pair of big leathery hands grab her from behind. The cold blade of a dagger was pressed hard against her throat and a voice by her ear hissed, "No ssuch luck, human."

* * *

While he waited for Jay to clear the room up top, Vhetin switched his helmet back over to scanner mode and set himself to studying the movements of the many Trandoshans on the sixth floor. What were they doing up there?

His first thought had been that they were raiding the bank for money – captives weren't the only things Trando slavers cared about – but it didn't look like they were going for any of the bank vaults. From what he could see they were just standing around talking to each other while only five or six of them were actually working on something.

He shook his head. Trandoshans were usually stupid and bloodthirsty. When mixed, the two made them good thugs and even good fighters in small groups. But he'd never heard of slavers hitting such a large target before. What made Tachador special?

His first thought was that the Trandos had bitten off more than they could chew. But considering that the Protectors were here in the first place, that probably wasn't the case. The lizards had somehow managed to infiltrate and take control of the entire city. They definitely seemed to possess enough firepower to accomplish that; firepower slavers just didn't have the resources to create.

So what? Was someone - or something - outside of Tachador funding the aliens? If so, why?

He sighed. This was the bounty hunter side of him kicking in, becoming suspicious and paranoid of every matter regarding the contract. There were a lot of questions regarding the attack on Tachador, probably the reason Shysa was so reluctant to reveal the details of the operation to the Protectors.

Several Trandos on the sixth floor scurried about, clustered around the center of the room. The rest of the Trandoshans suddenly grouped together and began heading for the door that led to the stairwell.

He sat up a little, staring at the Trandoshans above. The large group was hurrying down the stairs, heading straight for the main atrium.

_What the… what are they doing?_

The remaining lizards remained clustered around an object in the center of the room, poking it with what looked like a fusion cutter. They messed with the thing for a moment before straightening and running for the stairs.

_What is that?_ he thought, looking closer at the object. It was rectangular, with several knobs or buttons poking out of the side. His HUD's heat scanners showed that it was slowly getting warmer.

He zoomed in on the object, setting his HUD to scan its shape and run it through known databases. If it was a weapon, he needed to know what it was.

His HUD remained in scanning mode for a moment before plans for a high-powered flash-heat explosive popped up.

He quickly scanned through the file: a liquid-based explosive, this particular bomb was used to great effect by old Republic Commando squads to cover their tracks. The explosive combined two types of liquids to create a chemical explosion. The way the Commandos saw it, the explosion destroyed any tough objects like buildings while the chemical fumes killed any potential hostiles or witnesses.

He sat up fully now, or at least as fully as he could while cramped inside the tiny maintenance shaft.

If the Trandos were planning to blow the building, then Jay and Ramser were in danger. He craned his neck, watching as the horde of Trandos reached the second floor. They'd be in the atrium in seconds. Even if Jay had already rescued Ramser and was on her way back down the turbolift, there'd by no way they could escape the bank before they overwhelmed them.

He turned his gaze back to the bomb and scanned it, using his helmet's software to tap into the device's digital timer. A window popped up on the right upper hand corner of his HUD, showing a countdown timer that was currently set at three minutes. The time was quickly dwindling.

_Damn it_, he thought. _Sorry Jay, but we're going to have to find a way out of this with all three of us together._

He unplugged the power transfer cable and scrambled up the cramped shaft. As he did he pulled up the schematics of the building that he'd scanned before he had entered. It showed that the maintenance shaft had a vertical section that ran upwards all the way to the tenth floor. There were branching shafts along each floor that would serve as good handholds.

He reached the vertical shaft and stood up completely, looking up. The shaft stretched up high until it vanished into darkness. He double-checked the progress of the Trandoshans – they had reached the atrium more or less right under his feet – and were quickly making their way out of the building.

He jumped up and braced both arms against the shaft walls, holding himself there. He grunted, grimacing as the effort of holding himself put strain on his wounded chest. He took a deep breath and pushed off the wall, bracing his arms again a few feet further up. Now he could use the sides of his boots to hold himself as well.

He made his way slowly up the pipe, hoping Jay had the situation up top dealt with.

* * *

Jay told herself not to panic as she was dragged closer and closer toward the open turbolift car. She knew for a fact that if the Trando kidnapping her made it to the lift she wouldn't stand a chance.

She struggled against her captor and the lizard's hissing voice said, "Oh, no. You're not going to be esscaping thiss time. You tackled more than you bargained for, girl."

The Trandoshan pulled her back toward the turbolift, dagger still held to her throat. She felt another blade poke her in the small of her back.

"What's your plan?" she grunted, still struggling. "Hold me captive until we're out of the building? Just like that?"

"Jusst like that," the Trando hissed, satisfaction evident in its voice. "I'm certain you will fetch a fine price on the sslave market."  
Jay bit back a grin and said, "I'm sorry, but I don't really plan on being a slave for the rest of my life. I value my independence."

"Not your choice," the Trando snarled. "But if you keep sstrugling, I'll have to kill you and roasst your corpse over an open flame for dinner. Hsss… mosst deliciouss…"

She suddenly slammed her head back into the Trando's face. The alien screeched and staggered back, holding its leathery snout. Jay dropped onto her stomach on the floor just as the loud _crack_ of a projectile sniper rifle rang through the room.

The Trandoshan staggered, holding its chest. It looked down with wide orange eyes as green blood leaked through its fingers. Then it staggered back and slumped against the inside wall of the turbolift car.

Jay slowly got to her feet, brushing herself off. She looked at the tall green-red Mandalorian standing in the open doorway of the third vault. "Thanks for that."

He nodded and slowly lowered his bulky sniper rifle. "No problem."

He looked around at the Trandoshans around him, who were finally beginning to slowly shake off the effects of the flashbang grenade.

"Come on," he said. "We don't want to still be around when these bastards wake up. I've been keeping 'em at bay for the last two hours and they just keep coming."

"I was wondering why you had barricaded yourself in that vault," Jay said as they both stepped into the turbolift car. "It didn't seem like your typical tough-as-nails Mando attitude to hide from the bad guys. If you're like half the Mandos I know, you'd prefer the barge in, guns blazing approach."

He ejected the magazine of his rifle and pulled another one from his belt. He inspected it for a moment before sliding it into the rifle's housing. He racked back the charging rod and grunted, "I was on my last mag. The barge in, guns blazing approach wasn't going to work any more."

"Ah," Jay said with a slight smile. She reached down and pressed the button for the ground floor. There was a click, nothing more.

She frowned and pressed the button again. Just another click.

"What's wrong?"

Jay shook her head. "I don't know. The turbolift isn't working."

"Power's out to the building," he said. "I noticed it when I came in."

"How did you get up here?"

He shrugged. "Jetpack up the elevator shaft. How did you get up?"

"My partner is downstairs transferring power from his armor to the elevator. It doesn't seem to be working, though."

She clicked on her comm and said, "Vhetin? Cin, are you there? The elevator doesn't have power. Are you sitting on the cord or something?"

"Cin Vhetin?" Ramser echoed. "At last some good news. That guy is a master of the barge in, guns blazing routine."

She ignored him and said, "Cin, I really need you to transfer power to the elevator."

She got nothing but static and she stepped cautiously away from the elevator. "He's not picking up. Something must have happened."

There was a loud bang from inside the room. She and Ramser both started and brought their weapons up.

"What was that?"

Jay shook her head. "I have no clue. Maybe one of the Trandos woke up?"

There was another loud bang, this time followed by a clatter of metal. Jay slowly stepped out of the turbolift and into the room. A quick inspection found that a metal grate near one floor had been knocked loose of its housing and had skittered across the floor. A green-red Mandalorian was slowly clambering out of the hole it left in the wall.

"Cin?" Jay asked. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Change of plan," he grunted as he rose to his feet. "The Trandos are planning to blow the building. We need to get out of here now."

"No good," Ramser growled. "If you were the one supplying power to the elevator, we're screwed now."

"We don't have a choice," he said. "The Trandos from the sixth floor are evacuating. They're still making their way through the atrium. That exit is blocked."

"So what?"

"Stand back," he said. He stepped toward the wall and said, "Ramser. Help me with this."

"What are you thinking?" the Mando said, stepping after him.

"We need to make a window," he explained. "It's the only way we can get out of here."

"Jetpack rockets?"

"Yeah."

_Fierfek_, Jay thought. She turned away as both Mandos braced their feet and bent over to give their rockets a straighter flight. She closed her eyes and covered her ears, much like she'd done when she'd tossed the flashbang grenade.

There was a deafening _boom_ and hot duracrete chips bounced against Jay's back or skittered across the floor.

"Damn," she heard Ramser mutter. She quickly turned to see that his jetpack missile was missing, smoke lazily wafting from its housing. As for the wall, the rockets had done little more than carve out a smoking, red-hot crater. It was hardly the huge blast hole she had expected.

"Those rockets of yours really don't pack that much of a punch, do they?"

Vhetin shook his head and stepped closer to the wall. "That should have worked. The walls must be some kind of duracrete mix designed to be tougher than the normal stuff."

"How much time is left before the bomb goes off?" Jay asked, keeping an eye on the stunned Trandos scattered around the room. The flashbang grenade had been effective, but the aliens were finally beginning to stir and shake off the effects of her attack.

"Uh… two minutes. We need to hurry."

"Hurry and do what?" Ramser said, gesturing to the cracked and burned wall. "It's not like we have five more rockets to blast our way through this."

Vhetin silently unclipped a lightsaber from his belt. He swiftly activated it and plunged the glowing blue blade into the surface of the wall. He let it burn through the duracrete for a few moments, the molten material bubbling out around the blade.

Vhetin began dragging it around in a rough half-circle, his arms shaking from the effort. It was slow going; as he worked, Vhetin explained that the duracrete had been hardened by some kind of chemical additive that resisted the path of the energy blade. It was a whole nervous minute before he succeeded in dragging the blade around to the floor. Then he hurriedly sheathed the saber, hooked it to his belt, and simply slammed his armored boot into the wall.

The carved-out section of the wall splintered under his powerful kick, breaking free from the rest of the wall and falling away into open air.

"Come on," he snapped, gesturing for them. "We have less than a minute."

"I'll go first," Ramser said. "I'll meet up with the rest of the Protectors and tell them what happened here. You'll be right behind me?"

Vhetin suddenly cursed and ducked as a shotgun blast hit the wall over his helmet. Jay swung toward the source of the shot and saw that the Trandos were finally awake. The lizards staggered to their feet and unsteadily aimed their weapons at the human invaders.

"_Go_!" Jay shouted, firing at one of the aliens. It fell, clutching its bleeding chest.

Ramser nodded and said, "Good luck," before plunging out into open air. She heard the telltale roar of his jetpack firing up. After the roar had faded, she caught a glimpse of him sprinting down the street in the direction of the Mandalorian base camp.

"How much time left?" Jay asked, wincing as a shotgun blast hit the wall next to her. Duracrete chips peppered the back of her head.

"Thirty seconds," he said, sounding as if his teeth were clenched.

"Go then," she said. "I'll distract the Trandos long enough for you to get free."

"What?"

"I don't have a jetpack," she said. "I'd just slow you down."

"I'm not leaving you here."

"You have to. Either you get out of here or we both die."

He stared at her, then slowly stepped toward the hole in the wall. For a moment, she actually believed he was going to jump. Then she felt him grab her around the waist in a kind of tight hug. She struggled in confusion, saying, "What the hell are you-"

Then he threw himself backwards out of the hole in the wall. She cried out in surprise as she felt wind rushing past her head, blowing her hair wildly about her face.

"You're crazy!" she shouted as they plunged to the ground far below.

"I know!" he shouted back.

"Your jetpack can't hold two people!" she shouted. She could hear the screeching scream of his pack struggling to hold the weight of two people at once.

"I _know_! I'm still the only one with _beskar _armor!" he said, maneuvering them through the air so he was beneath her. He would hit the ground first in that position. "It's going to be all-"

Then they hit the duracrete sidewalk and everything went black.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Let's Hunt

**Mandalorian Forward Operating Base (F.O.B), one hour later**

Brianna stood at the entrance to the plaza, staring worriedly out at the street. Her comlink was clutched in her hand. She watched the sunset peeking out from behind two rain-heavy clouds, painting the sky around it bright orange and red. Normally she would be able to appreciate the beauty of such a sight. Normally she would be able to appreciate the fact that she was alive to see it, given the close scrape with the Trandos earlier in the day.

But she was too worried now to appreciate anything. She just stared out into the street, counting off the minutes until the latest patrol got back.

_Only ten minutes to go_, she thought.

He comlink buzzed and she felt as if her heart were going to explode out of her chest. She fumbled to press the transmission button and breathlessly said, "Cin?"

"Regrettably no," came Rame's voice. "Sorry, Bri."

She sighed, feeling despair tug at her heart. "It's all right Rame. What have you got?"

"Just checking in to see how you're doing, _vod'ika_. I know you're worried."

"I'm okay," she said, lying through her teeth. "I'm just waiting for the next patrol."

"They'll find them," Rame reassured her. "Don't worry."

Brianna tried to believe him, but couldn't. She knew that he would have contacted her by now if anything was wrong.

She remembered the terrified moment when Trayc Ramser had made it back to the plaza alone.

_He had jogged into the plaza, panting hard. He had bent over, resting his palms on his thigh plates as he struggled to catch his breath._

_Brianna had strode toward him, smiling, and said, "Nice to see you, Ramser. I take it you showed those Trandos whose boss?"_

_He had let out a breathless chuckle. "Yeah, not so much. I would probably be dead by now if not for Vhetin and his partner."_

"_They have a knack for swooping in at the last moment," she had said with a grin. "Are they still coming?"_

_He had looked up at her and cocked his head. "What, you mean they're not back yet?"_

_Her smile had slowly died. "No…" she had said slowly. "I thought they were with you."_

"_They said they were right behind me," he had said, looking back over his shoulder. "I assumed they were taking a different route back to base."_

_Brianna had stared at the Mandalorian, her heart beginning to pound in fear, and turned to head for the main communications tent near the hastily erected barracks._

"_Hey there," one of the techs had said as she had jogged into the tent. "What can we do for you, Brianna?"_

"_Have Cin or Jay checked in yet?" she had asked, her voice tight._

"_What?"_

"_Have they checked in? Shysa put them on special assignment. Did they check in when they made it back?"_

_The tech had frowned at her and booted up a nearby holoterminal. He had scanned through the contents, then had shaken his head. "I have no record of them checking in with us. How long have they been on assignment?"_

"_Too long," she had murmured. She had turned and jogged back out of the tent. She had spotted Rame talking with Shysa and Dala near one of the wrecked AA guns and had made her way over to them._

"_Have any of you had word from Cin?" she had asked as soon as she was close enough._

"_Not since I spoke with 'em earlier," Shysa said. "Somethin' wrong?"_

_Brianna shook her head. "I don't know. But no one's seen them since they went off to extract Ramser. _He _made it back, but he doesn't know where they are."_

"_I'm sure they're fine," Rame had reassured her. "They're probably just running late. They may have run afoul of a Trando patrol and were slowed down."_

"_But what if they need help? What if-"_

"_Look, lass," Shysa interrupted her, "if they're really missing, then finding them is a definite priority. But we have people who have been captured by the Trandos and the few extra forces we have available are on search patrol trying to find them. As soon as anyone is free I'll tell them to keep an eye out."_

"_Isn't there something more you can do?" Brianna had asked. "Do we have our short-range comms back?"_

"_Not yet," Dala had growled. "Jaing's all but frothing at the mouth trying to get them working."_

"_When will we have them back?"_

"_No telling. We don't even know what's wrong with 'em."_

"_Well if you don't have any patrols to spare," she had said, "let me go out and look for them."_

"_Are you mad?" Shysa had said. "I'm not sending you out there alone."_

"_So what do you propose I do? Just wait and hope they're okay?"_

"_I'm sorry," he had said sympathetically. "You'll have to wait until we have soldiers available."_

"_What if they're already dead by then?" she had said._

"_I'm sorry," he had said again. "I'll get on it as soon as I can, but until then there's nothin' I can do."_

_Brianna had stared at him in disbelief before turning and storming away. She had heard heavy bootsteps behind her and Rame's voice had said, "Brianna, don't worry about Cin and Jay. They know how to take care of themselves."_

"_They're trapped alone in a city overrun with Trandoshans," she had snapped. "They may be wounded or lost. And I can't even go out there and help them? It's kriffing ridiculous."_

"_Shysa's just trying to keep his soldiers safe," Rame had said. "He'll get on this as quick as he can."_

_She had sighed and closed her eyes. "That may not be quick enough."_

That had been half an hour ago. Brianna had contented herself to pacing back and forth and trying desperately not to charge out into the city alone and find Cin. Two patrols had come and gone both warned to keep an eye out for Vhetin and Jay. So far they'd come back with nothing.

She knew that Cin was more than capable of taking care of himself and Jay was tougher than she admitted. But even someone as tough as Vhetin wasn't invincible and a city infested with armed Trandoshan slavers wasn't exactly the best place to get lost.

She felt a surge of excitement as she saw one of the patrols coming in, making their way down the street in a tight cluster. Every Mando and _aruetii_ auxiliary had their rifle raised and they scanned the street for hostile contacts.

"_Su'cuy, vode_," she said as they entered the area safely covered by the Supercommando snipers on nearby rooftops. "How'd the patrol go?"

"No luck with Vhetin or his partner, Brianna," the patrol leader said. "Sorry."

"Did you patrol the area around the bank?"

"We did."

"And?"

The Mando sighed. "I'm not going to lie; it didn't look good."

Brianna's blood ran cold. "What do you mean? You don't mean…"

"We didn't find any sign of Vhetin or Jay," he clarified. "But the entire block is locked down by at least a hundred Trandoshans. The bank itself is barely standing."

"What?"

"It looks like the Trandos blew the building for some reason. It was nothing but a flaming ruin when we saw it. If Vhetin or Jay were still inside when it blew… well…"

Brianna stared at him for a moment. Then she turned and walked away without another word. She wandered numbly to a crate near the door of a nearby building and sat down heavily.

She looked down at the comlink in her palm and thought, _Come on, Cin. I gave you that comlink for a reason. Call me already. Let me know you're okay, _cyar'ika_._

But the comm unit didn't light up or buzz or make any motion to suggest that it was receiving any transmissions. It just sat in her palm, a dark and silent cylinder of plastoid.

_He's not dead_, she told herself for what felt like the hundredth time. _He's one of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy. He took on Fett and made it out alive. Hell, he took on _Vader _all those years ago and made it out alive. No way could a bunch of brainless lizards take him down_.

But the comlink still stayed silent.

* * *

He wavered in and out of consciousness, enduring brief moments of near-lucidity. He could hear muffled explosions, shouts, and roars that echoed toward him as if he heard them from far away. His vision was hazy and he could see little more than a big dark blur.

_What… what the…._

He groaned and tried to blink. Even that relatively simple motion made his head pound. He groaned again.

More explosions. More muffled voices.

He didn't know when he finally managed to force his eyes open. He just knew that it was much quieter when his vision finally cleared and he could make out a ceiling over his head.

_Where am I?_ he thought. He noticed that his helmet was still on, but his HUD was offline. He wasn't captured, then; any enemies would have taken his armor.

He tried to sit up but collapsed onto his back again before he could really move. A fresh wave of pain erupted through his chest and he coughed weakly.

"Hey there," a familiar voice said. "Look who's finally back in the land of the living."

He turned his head and saw Jay sitting on a cot set into the wall. She was sitting cross-legged on the cot and had a canister of some kind of food ration in her hands. Her hair was messy and her face and armor were dirty. Her rifle and her stolen shotgun were lying next to her.

He blinked and put a hand on his chest. He felt an unfamiliar material and looked down to see that his chest was wrapped tightly in what looked like a bed sheet.

"What…?"

"Oh yeah," she said. "I couldn't find any medical supplies, so I had to improvise with your bandages. Don't worry, I didn't take your helmet off to bandage you up."

He let his head fall back onto the cot and whispered, "What happened? The last thing I remember…"

"I hope it's that stupid stunt you pulled back at the bank," she said. "You almost killed yourself."

"Ugh… I feel like I succeeded."

"You were in pretty bad shape for a bit. You absorbed most of the impact when we hit the ground. You were knocked unconscious and at a _really _bad time, too. It must have been only five seconds before the building blew up."

"You got us out of there?"

"You sound surprised."

He shook his head. "Just confused."

"You should feel a little guilt, too. I had to drag your sorry carcass out of that place when the Trandoshans showed up."

"The Trandos came back?" he said, looking over at her. His head pounded at the motion, but he ignored it.

She nodded and scraped at the inside of the ration can with a plastoid fork. "More or less right after the building blew. They swarmed all over the area and locked down the block."

"How did you get us out?"

She shrugged. "A mixture of stealth, desperation, and plain cowardice. Mostly I just got out of there as fast as I could, dragging your ass behind me. Had to blow a few Trandos out of my way, but…"

She shrugged again and fell silent.

He groaned and struggled to sit up and she said, "Whoa. Slow down, big guy. Your chest started bleeding again after you were knocked unconscious. I'm no med-tech, but it looks to me like that wound is a lot worse than you let on."

He sighed and relaxed against his own cot. He stared at the ceiling for a moment before looking at her again and asking, "Where the hell are we?"

"An abandoned apartment complex about… um, well I'm not exactly sure. I just tried to get as far away from that bank as possible. It worked out pretty well; I haven't seen any Trandos in the area and I found some food reserves inside."

She picked up another canister of food ration from the cot next to her. "Try some," she said. "It's preserved, so it hasn't gone bad in the time the lizards have been here. It's pretty good, if you like kind of slimy, cold stew with unknown ingredients."

She tossed the can to him. He brought his arms up to catch it, then groaned as the motion sent a wash of pain through his chest.

"Have we… had any contact with the Supercommandos?" he asked as he looked over the can.

She shook her head as she scooped up some of the stew. She chewed for a time, then swallowed and said, "Nothing. I thought about sending a transmission to Shysa or Rame or someone, but I thought that broadcasting our location for any potential Trandoshan eavesdroppers to hear wasn't a very good idea."

"Good thinking," he grunted as he grimaced and hauled himself up into a sitting position. His chest exploded with pain, but he ignored it. "I taught you well."

"Apparently," she said. She set aside her empty food can and said, "It wouldn't have mattered anyway; I scanned through the comm channels and I didn't pick up so much as a weather report. The signals are completely jammed now."

She hesitated, then said, "So what's the plan?"

"I've only been conscious for about thirty seconds," he said. "Give me a bit."

"Oh. Right."

He chuckled, then winced and touched his chest gingerly. "You're the one who managed this daring escape. What's your plan?"

"Honestly I was banking on holding out here until you either woke up or died. I thought I'd take it from there."

He laughed again and swung his legs off the side of the cot. He spotted his armored flak vest hanging on a hook nearby, his jetpack resting against the wall underneath it.

"Well," he said, grunting as he gingerly pulled himself into the armor-plated vest, "I guess the first thing to do would be to explore this apartment a bit."

"I looked around a little bit while you were napping," she said, grabbing her rifle and shotgun, "but mostly just around this apartment."

"Where in the building are we?" he asked as he stepped out of the small room and into the larger apartment beyond. He narrowed his eyes, surveying the area.

"Top floor," she said. "I figured that would be the most defendable if we came under attack. Taking the high ground, you know?"

"Good thinking," he said as he continued his study of the room. From what he could see, the apartment was a collection of several rooms all clustered around a large central gathering area, similar to a Mandalorian _karyai_. The central room had a lowered central area with a couch that was more or less in tatters from a close-range shotgun blast. The few holopics that were on the walls were hanging crooked or broken completely, their holographic images moving slightly, then sputtering and freezing.

"And you said you haven't seen any Trandos in the area?" he said, noticing a patch of pale green blood on the carpet near the door. "Just how far from the bank are we?"

"Far enough. I carried you for about fifteen minutes before finding this place. You can still see the smoke from the explosion from here."

"How many rooms are there?"

"From my earlier search I was able to find four other rooms and a fresher. But it looks like power is on in this section of the city because the water still works."

"The Trandos probably killed power to the bank block to get around the building's automated security measures," Vhetin murmured. "Were there any occupants?"

"Of the apartment? No. The entire place is deserted. And I haven't seen anyone on the streets either."

"I wonder where they all went," he said.

"Refugee centers, maybe?"

"Maybe some of them," he said, opening the door to another room. Inside was another bedroom almost identical to the one he'd just left, with two cots built into the walls. "I'm guessing the Trandos rounded up a good deal of the civilians when the assault first started."

"What do you think the lizards wanted with thousands of civilians? It's not like they can all be sold as dancers or laborers."

"I don't know," he admitted. "I don't think anyone knows right now."

Further exploration of the rest of the building revealed that there was a cafeteria on the first floor stocked with all manner of food. A good deal of it had gone bad since the Trandoshans shut the place down, but there was a working freezer stocked with food canisters similar to what Jay had been eating out of earlier. Vhetin guessed that they had enough food for a couple weeks in the eventuality that they were cut off for an extended time.

They were also lucky enough to stumble across an apartment room stocked with weapons. Apparently one of the building's tenants had been a Clone Wars veteran with a fondness for black market military tech. It took Vhetin and Jay almost twenty minutes to haul most of the stuff back up to their chosen hideout. As Vhetin took inventory he noted with satisfaction that they had a store of ten old DC-15 battle rifles, twelve of their smaller, short-stocked counterparts, three DC-17 commando rifles complete with sniper and anti-armor attachments and no less than fifteen crates of ammunition and various grenades.

"You know," Jay grunted as she set one of the last of the heavy crates down on the floor of their chosen apartment room, "if Imperial Law Enforcement had gotten any clue that this guy had all this kit he would have been in a lot of trouble."

"Lucky for us they stayed oblivious," Vhetin said, setting down his own stack of three crates. "They would have confiscated all this stuff and we'd be left virtually weaponless."

"So what now?" she asked, straightening and brushing her hands off. "Sit tight and wait for any supercommandos to pass by the area?"

"We can't do that," he said. "They'll need our help taking the city back. We need to find a way to get to them as soon as possible."

"How? I told you, comms still aren't working. And you already tried downloading the city map."

He had attempted that a few minutes after they had found the cafeteria; it was his plan to download a city map to his HUD and find the location of the plaza that way. But whatever was scrambling their comm signals was also blocking activity to the local HoloNet. His HUD had scanned for a moment before blaring an error tone and throwing up the words, _CONNECTION FAILED, CONNECTION FAILED._

"I'm going to head out into the city and manually scan what I can find," he said. "I'll mark the apartment building with a beacon so I can find my way back, but we need to know where the hell we are."

"Oh no, " she said. "If you're heading out there, you aren't going alone."

"I need you to stay here and keep the apartment secure."

"The apartment isn't going anywhere," she said, clipping her rifle to her belt. "And besides, you're wounded. You're going to need all the help you can get."

He sighed and muttered, "I don't know why I even bother trying to get you to do anything."

"I don't know either," she said. "You should have caught on to that a long time ago."

"Well come on, then," he said. "Let's take a look around."

It was a short walk down the stairwell – the elevator had an out of order sign posted on the doors – they emerged into the main atrium of the building. The cashier register behind the front desk had been broken open and there were credit chips scattered across the floor. There was a bulletin board mounted on the wall nearby. Someone had sprayed the words _Where Is The Empire Now? _and _Empire's Finest My Ass_ across its surface.

Jay looked at the bulletin with distaste. "You'd think these people would have better things to do than vandalize buildings and loot the place."

"People are stupid that way during a crisis," Vhetin said. "Things happen and the first thing they can think of is how much they can steal when no one's looking."

"I'm glad we got to the scene after that phase."

"This place is still dangerous," he muttered as they approached the doors. "Keep on guard."

"I brought you all the way from the bank, remember? I've been careful."

She unclipped her short-stocked rifle from her belt and looked through the front doors cautiously before saying, "Okay. Looks clear from here."

Vhetin moved up, his own rifle shouldered, and looked out at the street as they stepped through the doors and into the city. The outside looked much like every other view of Tandori he'd gotten so far; ruined buildings flanking a street clogged with wrecked and still-flaming speeders. The duracrete of the sidewalk was cracked and blasted apart by shotgun blasts and grenade detonations. The mounted halolamps on either side of the street had switched on automatically as the sun set, but most of them just flickered and threw showers of sparks onto the ground.

"Doesn't a small part of you wonder what this place was like before the Trandos attacked?" Jay whispered as he slowly stepped out onto the sidewalk.

"A small part, yes," he murmured. He brought his rifle up and scanned the rooftop for snipers. He lowered the weapon after a short time and said, "When you found this place, did you notice any landmarks? Anything we could use to pinpoint our location?"

"I didn't see any signs that said _Mandalorian Base: This Way_, no."

"I'm serious."

"Nothing but a bunch of empty buildings and dead speeders. I chose the apartment building because the sign out front still had power. I figured we could use that after the whole deal at the bank."

They were silent for a time before she said, "How's your armor doing, by the way? Do you have enough power?"

Vhetin paused a moment to boot up his HUD. Apart from his quick attempt to link up with the local HoloNet, he hadn't used it. As he waited, there was a flash of amber light and his vision was clouded by thousands of numbers. The numbers cleared away after a few moments, replaced by his HUD's motion tracker, life scanner, and area map – which was currently drowned out by static. He quickly pulled up his armor's power monitor.

"I'm running on about twenty-five percent power," he said. "And with all the systems that I have to run al the time like my helmet vocoder and audio receptors, I've got about two hours of life left before it dies on me."

"Those things only work for six hours at a time?"

He shook his head. "They usually last for about twenty hours of sustained use, but it looks like my helmet's main power supply was damaged in the fall. I'm running on emergency power."

She sighed. "Another reason you should feel like an idiot for jumping out of that building."

"You should be more thankful," he said. "I saved your life."

She looked like she was going to argue with him, but she suddenly snapped, "Hold on. Get down, quick."

He instantly dropped to a crouch behind a nearby speeder. Jay dropped to her hands and knees and cautiously crawled over toward him.

"What's the problem?" he asked, flexing his grip on his rifle. "What did you see?"

She peeked over the speeder's hood and muttered, "Trandoshan patrol. I barely saw them in time. It doesn't look like they spotted us, though. Just give them a minute to pass by."

"What would they be looking for in this part of the city?"

"More banks to blow up, maybe?" she said, glancing at him.

He turned and looked over the speeder as well. He zoomed his HUD in on the Trandos and watched them for a moment. The patrol was a collection of three fat minors, a tall, lanky Trando hunter, and some kind of floating probe droid. He shook his head before switching the computer system off. The light from his HUD faded, leaving only the normal view through his helmet's T-strip visor.

"This doesn't make sense," he muttered. "Slavers never attack in such large numbers. They infiltrate planets in small groups and take maybe twenty or thirty people at a go. I've never heard of them hitting a target this big before."

"Maybe it's a military play," Jay said. "You know, like the Trando government saw something here they liked."

"There is no Trando government," he said with a dark laugh. "Just a bunch of fanatical hunters, slavers, and mercenaries."

"They say the same things about Mandalorians," she pointed out. "Maybe there's more to this than what we're seeing."

"I don't doubt it," he said, watching the patrol turn a corner out of sight. "And it's confusing as hell."

"So we know this area is being patrolled after all," Jay whispered. "And I've given you almost two hours, so I ask again: what's the plan?"

"Our first priority is linking back up with the Supercommandos," he said, "but we need to find a way to increase our chances of making it out of here alive. Let's scout the area a bit, see if we can't find any shops that might come in useful."

"Anything we should keep an eye out for in particular?"

He nodded. "Sporting goods shops. They usually stock hunting weapons. Could come in handy."

"We should also keep an eye out for the local military post. If any Imperial troopers survived this, they'll head there. Maybe a fair deal of civilians as well."

"Good idea. Let's split up so we can cover more ground."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? There are Trandos everywhere."

"Probably not, " he admitted, "but we don't have time to clear this area at our own pace. Let's head back to the apartment and gather up what supplies we'll need. We'll stay in constant communication and report to each other if we see _anything_ that looks suspicious or dangerous. Okay?"

She nodded. "Okay."

* * *

**Spaceport Battlefront, two miles from Mandalorian F.O.B**

"_Incoming_!"

Brianna ducked as a Trandoshan rocket screamed over her head. The missile impacted against the duracrete wall behind her, blowing the barrier into red-hot chips. She was knocked over by the resulting shockwave that also took out at least five other Mandos nearby.

After the shockwave had faded, Rame rose to his hands and knees and shook his helmeted head. He cursed and muttered, "I liked it better when they just had shotguns."

"Ah, the good ol' days," Shysa sighed as Tobbi Dala hauled him to his feet. He shook dust and ash off his armor and shouted, "_Mando'ade!_ Move up and hold the left flank!"

Brianna could hear a loud chorus of, "_Aye, Mand'alor_," from the assembled Mandalorians, and armored soldiers rushed to hold the left side of the battlefront against Trandoshan attack.

"I still don't know why we have to take the damn spaceport," Dala muttered, shouldering his rifle and firing six rounds into an onrushing Trandoshan. "Bad enough that we were hired by the Imps, but now we gotta do their dirty work for 'em?"

"That 'dirty work' involves getting reinforcements, mate," Shysa said, lobbing a grenade at the enemy. The small metallic orb bounced off a durasteel bench before exploding with a loud _bang _and knocking three lizards off their feet. "If we secure the spaceport, the Imps can bring in their handy stormtroopers. Might come in handy."

"If for nothing else than giving the Trandos something to shoot at other than us," a nearby Mando said. The man then bent over and fired a jetpack rocket. The missile streaked up into the sky in dizzying loops before swooping down and exploding in the center of the Trandoshan lines in a cloud of flame and debris.

The man looked over his shoulder and shouted, "Reload!"

A combat technician sprinted for him, carrying a backpack full of rocket missiles. The man bent over again as the tech slid another rocket into its housing and twisted it, locking it into place. The Mandalorian thanked the tech before leveling his gauntlet and firing a much smaller wrist rocket.

Brianna cursed and ducked as a spray of shotgun pellets flew over her head. She jumped up from behind her cover – the twisted wreckage of a toppled holoboard that once rested on the building above her – and unleashed a barrage of bright red blaster bolts from her pistols. She had barely fired ten shots before a shotgun blast caught her in the chest with enough force to knock her onto her back.

"_Brian'ika_!" Rame shouted. He ducked behind the ruins of the holoboard and made his way over to her. "Are you all right?"

She nodded, sitting up with a grimace and looking down at her combat armor chestplate. The black armor was dented and smoking but otherwise fine. "Just knocked the wind out of me," she said, getting to her feet again. "I'm okay."

"You're lucky," Shysa said. "Those shotgun pellets have the strangest way of working around our _vode's_ chest armor. The medics are having a hell of a time tryin' to stay ahead of the wounded."

He glanced at Dala and said, "Hence the need for reinforcements."

Brianna yanked a grenade from her belt and depressed the activation button. She threw it as hard as she could into the Trandoshan lines and shouted, "Frag out!"

Trandoshans scattered, fleeing from her grenade. Brianna counted to three before the explosive detonated, sending lizards sprawling. Through the sudden gap in the Trando lines, she could see the front entrance to the spaceport.

"Nice toss, lass!" Shysa shouted. "_Mando'ade_! We've got an opening! Press forward before we lose the advantage."

"Concentrate all your firepower on the break in the Trando lines!" Dala chipped in. "Widen our entry space. _Oya Mando'ade_!"

"_Oya Mando'ade_!" the Protectors shouted, Brianna included. Armored Mandalorians leaped from cover and rushed the Trandoshan lines, firing their weapons on full automatic settings. Trandoshans tumbled over in large groups, clutching smoking blaster burns.

Brianna sprinted toward the door, aware of several other Mandalorians at her side. As a group the Mandalorians rushed into the gap in the Trando lines, weapons aimed out at the mass of lizards. Multi-colored blaster fire and smoky explosions of shotgun blasts flashed between the Mandalorians and Trandos as the Protectors at the front of the line kicked down the front doors to the spaceport.

"We're clear!" shouted someone at the head of the line. "Everyone inside! Go, go, go!"

Brianna saw a fat Trandoshan minor raising its shotgun at her and she ducked right as the alien fired. The spray of pellets from his angular weapon caught a Mando behind her full in the faceplate and he dropped with a shout.

She brought up both her pistols and fired twice. The red blaster bolts caught the Trando in the chest, knocking it onto its back.

She turned and put a hand on the shoulder of the Mando who'd been shot. "Hey, _vod_," she said, "you all right?"

"I'm fine." He sat up with a groan, then struggled to his feet and hurried to keep up with the line of Supercommandos hurrying into the spaceport. Brianna ducked through the spaceport doors as well.

The main reception area inside was crowded with Mandalorians and there were six Supercommandos already standing guard over the door with their rifles raised. Brianna quickly stepped out of their way before they opened up at the onrushing Trandos and caught her in the crossfire.

"Okay, okay," Shysa's voice called over the murmuring of the Mandos chosen for the mission. The rest of the Supercommandos were back at the base, keeping it secure from Trandoshan infiltrators. "Calm down, everybody. We won't get anything done with everyone milling about like this."

The murmuring slowly died down and all attention slowly focused on Shysa, who was standing on a nearby waiting bench with his hands held in the air.

"All right, _vode_," he said, "we can't stay here for too terribly long. We need to split up and secure the spaceport. So group into squads and come see me, Dala, or our lieutenants. Once you get your assignments, head out as fast as you can. Keep in contact using your internal helmet radios and be careful; we still don't know how many Trandos are inside.

"We're also going to need to keep about twenty Protectors to stay back here and keep the main hall clear of Trando invaders," Dala said as Shysa hopped down from the chair. "_Te Mand'alor_ and I will be in the main security center if you need us."

Brianna searched through the crowd as the Mandos assembled into groups of four, looking for a single Protector in particular. It wasn't easy; all the Mandos were wearing identical green-red armor. Thankfully a good majority of them had taken off their helmets in order to get a breath of fresh air during a moment of quiet. It didn't take too long to find her quarry.

"Jaing!" she called through the crowd. She slipped between two Supercommandos and made her way toward the old clone. He was typing furiously into a handheld datapad, a scowl on his face. His armor was scarred and burned in several places and he had a streak of blood on his forehead.

He looked up at her voice and said, "Eh? What?"

"It's me," she said. "Everyone's splitting up and heading out to secure the spaceport."

"So I heard. What do you want with me?"

"You up for some recon work?" she asked. "I was going to check out the comms station and see if I could find out what's jamming us."

He opened his mouth as if to agree, then closed it and narrowed his eyes. "Wait. Are you still trying to get a message to Vhetin? You know what Shysa said about that."

"I'm just trying to find out what's jamming our comms," she said, lying through her teeth. "That's the first step to finding Cin."

He stared at her for a moment more. Then he sighed and said, "You're really annoying when you're determined, you know that?"

"Yeah," she said with a smile. She batted her eyes at him and said, "But since when have you refused help to a pretty girl like me?"

"All right, you hit me in my weak spot," he said with a chuckle. "I'll help you. But I'm warning you not to try anything funny. Shysa's right; the success of this mission doesn't hinge on Vhetin and Jay. We need to focus on beating back these Trandos first. Once the lizards are gone, they're safely out of harm's way. Okay?"

"Okay. Thanks for your help."

They were heading over to speak to Shysa and Dala when two other Protectors approached them. Brianna instantly recognized the Mandalorian with the prosthetic arm as Sazh Kisaragi. With him was a black-haired _aruetii_ man that she had never met.

"You two heading out to clear the spaceport?" Kisaragi asked.

Jaing nodded. "We're going to check out the communication relay station. We'll hopefully be able to find out what the hell is jamming our comms."

"You want to tag along?" Brianna asked.

Kisaragi nodded. "As long as you're offering. Securing the rest of the port seems more exciting than sticking around here."

No sooner had he finished speaking then the line of Mandos in front of the door opened up with their blasters, firing through the shattered front doors. A group of five Trandoshans fell, clutching blaster wounds.

"Persistent buggers, aren't they?" the _aruetii_ man said, shaking his head.

"All the more reason to get the comms back online," Brianna said. "As soon as we do the Imps can start landing their own soldiers and the burden won't be on us Protectors alone."

It took them about ten minutes to work their way through the crowd to where Shysa, Dala, and their most trusted lieutenants were giving out assignments. When it was finally their turn Jaing walked up to Dala and jerked his head toward a corridor leading away from the main waiting hall of the spaceport.

"We're going to head out and secure the comms station. Anything in particular you want us to keep an eye out for?"

Dala shook his head, his face pulled down in his customary scowl. "Nothing that I can think of. If you see anything that might be the cause of our jammed comlinks, make sure to deal with it."

"And if we can't?" Kisaragi inquired.

"We'll have to send Skyraptors up into orbit to relay our communications manually. We're kicking some ass down here, but we can't hold out forever on our own."

Jaing nodded and pulled his helmet over his head. When he spoke next, his voice came from his helmet's crackly vocoder. "We won't let you down."

Dala nodded back before turning to speak with another group. Brianna sighed, glad they had been given clearance, and said to her group, "Let's go then. No time to waste."

The parted with the main force of the Supercommandos, making their way down a dark hallway that ran toward the east wing of the building. They had traveled for only about five minutes before Jaing paused to plug his datapad into a computer terminal set into the wall. The bright blue lights of the datapad painted highlights on his helmet as he searched through the spaceport's computer systems. After a time he murmured, "Oya."

"What?" Brianna asked. "What did you find?"

"A map of the spaceport," he said. "It should come in handy."

"So where's the comm station?"

"Would you give me a minute?" he grumbled. "I'm not a karking droid. Give me a second to let this thing finish downloading."

Brianna bit her lower lip in irritation but fell silent.

"Okay," he finally said. "It looks like the comm station is a couple hundred meters from here. We'll have to go through the maintenance bay to get there."

"If the maintenance bay is like all the others I've seen," Kisaragi said, "that place will be a mess. Perfect place for an ambush."

"We'll keep it slow and careful," Brianna said, adjusting her neck guard.

They traveled on in silence. The spaceport was unusually silent, its dark halls devoid of any signs of life. Brianna could barely hear any sound besides her own bootsteps. There was no hum of coolant systems, no whirring of maintenance droids in their small access halls hidden in the walls. The silence made Brianna slightly nervous and she flexed her grip on her pistols in anticipation. She could feel like something was going to happen soon.

She was obviously not the only one who felt that way. The other _aruetii_ auxiliary let out a low hiss of a sigh and murmured, "Why do I feel like a nerf in a grr cat lair?"

"Because you are," Kisaragi muttered back. "You picking this up, Jaing?"

The old clone nodded. "Yep. We're being watched."

"Where are they?"

"Behind us," Jaing said, not turning his head. "There's maybe twelve of 'em."

"What, Trandos?" the other auxiliary said, turning to look behind him.

"_No!_" Kisaragi hissed. "Don't look, _di'kut_. You'll just tip 'em off that we know they're there."

"So what do we do?" the man said. "Just let them attack us?"

"We're in control here," Jaing said. "Once we get to the maintenance bay we can pull them into an ambush of our own."

Brianna narrowed her eyes. "Then let's pick up the pace a little. The sooner we get rid of these guys the sooner we can get back to work."

It took them a couple minutes to reach the maintenance bay. They paused at every intersection, checking both directions for hostiles like they usually would. They didn't want to let the Trandos behind them know there was anything out of the ordinary.

After several more meters the hall opened up into a large, spacious room. Most of the space in the room was taken up by a large space transport in disrepair. There were access panels pried off the hull and it was missing its main front viewport. A large collection of tall metal racks were crowded into what space remained, their shelves holding mechanical parts and tools for various repairs around the spaceport.

"Okay," Brianna said, "let's split up and get into position to take these kriffers out."

The other three nodded and split off, disappearing into the darkness. Brianna turned and jogged away to her own hiding place. She searched for only a few moments before she found it; the small space on a storage rack between a huge superspanner and a crate of fusion cutters offered the perfect space for her rifle.

She holstered her pistols and unclipped the rifle from her belt. She narrowed her eyes and watched closely as a group of six Trandoshans prowled into the room, snarling and hefting their contoured shotguns.

"Where did they go?" one of the lizards hissed. "Did they esscape?"

"Ssplit up," another said. "Find them. They cannot hide from uss."

Brianna's comlink earpiece suddenly let out a burst of static and Jaing's voice said, "You guys ready?"

"Just give me the word," she whispered. "I've got 'em in my sights."

"Hit 'em."

Brianna heard the _aruetii_ man's voice shout, "Yoo-hoo! Hey, ugly!"

One of the Trandos turned toward the voice before being knocked down by a barrage of blue rifle fire.

"Ambussh!" one lizard shouted. "Sscatter!"

Brianna squeezed her rifle trigger and fired at the nearest three aliens. Bright red blaster fire felled two of the aliens while the third one staggered and ducked behind another storage rack.

Blaster fire suddenly erupted out of the darkness, ricocheting off the storage racks. Trandoshans scrambled for cover, firing blindly into the dark. The bright flashes of shotgun fire lit up the darkness, combining with the blaze of blaster fire to light up the shadows of the maintenance bay like nightclub strobe lights.

"Stay on top of them," Jaing said over comms. "Don't let them get out of our sight. We need to keep them penned in."

"I'm on it," Kisaragi said. Brianna spotted a dark figure sprinting through the darkness. Before she could barely blink the Mando charged a nearby Trandoshan, slamming his hard prosthetic arm across its snout. The alien staggered and Kisaragi grabbed it by its throat, lifting it bodily up off the ground and slamming it against the wall hard enough to knock it unconscious. He let the lizard fall to the ground and shot it twice in the chest.

"Nice work, Sazh," Jaing said.

The man nodded and tossed a salute to no one in particular with his prosthetic hand. "All in a day's work."

Brianna saw a Trando scampering toward her location and dropped it with two blaster rounds to the chest. "How many more of these guys are there?"

"Motion tracker shows… eight. Two for each of us."

Brianna looked up at the top of the storage rack she was hiding behind and cocked her head thoughtfully. "I have an idea," she said. "Give me a second here."

She hopped up and grabbed hold of one of the rack's shelves. She brought her legs up and placed a boot on the lowest shelf, hoping it wouldn't give way and spill its contents loudly onto the floor.

Working quickly she clambered toward the top of the rack, quietly shoving boxes of welding equipment and coils of power conduits out of her way. She hauled herself up on top of the rack and knelt on the narrow metal surface. She slowly clipped her rifle back onto her belt and pulled her bow from its sheath on her back.

_I'm glad Shysa lets us bring along our own equipment_, she thought as she quickly strung the antique weapon. _Cin's got his lightsabers, Jaing's got his computers, and I have this baby._

She reached over her shoulder and unslung her quiver, setting it on the ground and unscrewing the cap as quickly as she could without making noise that would draw attention to her. She pulled out four arrows and clipped them to the special mini-quiver on the side of her bow. Then she slung the quiver back over her shoulder, careful not to spill any arrows.

Once she was finished she carefully stood, wary not to lose her balance and plummet to the ground that was at least twelve feet below. She held out her arms for balance and hopped to the top another nearby storage rack.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sazh whispered over her comm. His HUD could obviously pick her figure out from the darkness.

"Think about it," she murmured under her breath. She spotted the slouching form of a Trando as it prowled through the racks below her. She knelt and slowly clipped an arrow onto her bowstring. "We're outnumbered two-to-one and the Trandos have weapons that can tear through our body armor. We can't beat them all in a firefight, so we have to outmaneuver them."

"Right. So what the hell are you doing?"

"Where's the one place the Trandos won't be looking?" she whispered. She closed one eye, aiming her bow. With a smooth motion she pulled the bowstring back to her anchor point at her chin.

"Up," she whispered and loosed the arrow. The projectile whistled through the dark and knocked the Trando onto its stomach. It let out a gasp, then went limp.

"One down," she whispered. "I'm moving on."

"Ah, Brianna," Jaing sighed in amusement. "You missed your calling as a big-game hunter."

"Isn't that what these Trandos are?" she whispered. "If these monsters are an example of what big-game hunting is like, I'd rather stick with bounty hunting."

"To each its own, I guess."

A deafening shotgun blast suddenly split the silence, immediately followed by a scream. Brianna recognized the voice as the _aruetii_ auxiliary.

"Damn," she muttered. "Anyone got eyes on the other guy?"

"Wait…" Sazh said. "I see him. Damn, the Trandos got him."

"Alive?"

"Don't think so. He's a mess."

"Fierfek," Brianna muttered. She hopped to another storage rack and said, "Where is he?"

"Go to your left… now your right… now go straight."

"Okay," she said. "I can see them."

There were three Trandoshans clustered around the body of the non-Mando. They were sniffing at him and hissing to each other.

"Iss it dead?" one of them said.

"I don't know. Touch it."

"Are you inssane? You touch it."

Brianna scowled as they began prodding the body with their shotgun barrels. She pulled another arrow from the quiver on the side of her bow and drew it back.

"It'ss dead," one of the lizards proclaimed.

Brianna moved her bow sights over the Trando. The circular sight glowed dull green to indicate a good shot, and she let the arrow fly.

The arrow struck the lizard in the back hard enough to throw him onto his front. The other Trandos scrambled for cover.

"What iss that?" one of them cried.

"We're under attack!"

Brianna nocked another arrow and swiveled toward the sound. She fired and another alien dropped. She winced as a shotgun blast missed her head by a few centimeters.

"Uh, can I get some help in here?" she asked.

"I'm already on it," Sazh said. She saw him duck through the storage racks and scoop up a Trando shotgun. "Stay down… or up, or whatever. Just stay where you are."

She watched as he fired through the gap in the rack shelves, drawing the Trandoshan's attention. The lizards turned toward him and fired. Brianna took advantage of the distraction to fire her bow again, hitting another enemy in the chest.

Jaing suddenly appeared out of nowhere, barreling into the back of one of the lizards and knocking it off its feet. He kicked it in the face and knocked it unconscious before drawing his pistol and firing at two others. Brianna swiveled to fire at the last Trando.

Her blood ran cold when she saw that the creature was hefting a small orb in its hand. It depressed an activation button and chuckled to itself quietly. She quickly pulled back her bowstring and fired, shooting the lizard in the chest. It flailed and fell with a scream, the tiny sphere rolling across the ground.

"Scatter!" she shouted. "Grenade!"

Jaing and Sazh both reacted instinctively, sprinting away from the grenade and covering their heads. Brianna cursed as the tiny ball rolled across the floor and hit one of the legs of her storage rack with a tiny _chink_.

She slung her bow over her shoulder and jumped blindly into open air. She flailed for a moment, then managed to just barely catch onto the edge of another storage rack just as the grenade detonation behind her. There was a bright flash of light and a roaring explosion and she heard the storage rack she had been standing on topple over with a deafening crash.

As the explosion faded, she grunted and said, "Sazh, Jaing, you two still with me?"

She heard a cough and Jaing's gravelly voice said, "Ugh… thanks for that."

"No problem," she said and let go of the storage rack. She fell for a moment and landed hard on the ground. She brushed herself off as she straightened and surveyed the damage.

It wasn't pretty. The grenade must have been made of high-grade baradium that exponentially increased the size of a normal frag grenade. The explosion had carved a half-meter crater out of the duracrete ground and had leveled three nearby storage racks. The racks were twisted and glowing red-hot, their contents spilled across the floor. The air was thick with smoke and the acrid tinge of vaporized duracrete. Brianna's eyes watered as she made her way through the smoke and called, "Sazh? Jaing? Say something, let me know where you are."

She heard a groan from nearby and saw Kisaragi lying facedown. She stepped toward him and nudged him in the side with the toe of her boot.

"Hey," she said, her voice hoarse. "You okay?"

He rolled over onto his back and gave her a thumbs-up with his mechanical arm. "Never felt better," he coughed.

"At least we got rid of the damn Trandos," Jaing said, emerging through the smoke and holding a hand out to help Kisaragi to his feet. "And any others will think twice about messing with us."

"That _aruetii_ guy got killed, though," Sazh said, gratefully grabbing Jaing's forearm and letting the old clone haul him to his feet. "Damn, I didn't even ask his name. Either of you know who he was?"

Brianna and Jaing both shook their heads. Sazh sighed and said, "Let's go grab his tabs before we move on then."

They picked their way through the wreckage the grenade had left behind and found the _aruetii_ man's body. Sazh knelt down next to the body and skillfully pried the glowing armor tab from the man's upper right chest plate. He turned the small datachip over between his fingers for a moment, then pressed the button on the back. A bright blue hologram sprang to life in mid-air, displaying the man's name, age, blood type, and the comm numbers and addresses of his next of kin. Kisaragi studied the data for a moment before sighing and switching off the holo.

"I'll get this back to his family on Mandalore," he said, tucking the chip into one of his belt-pouches. He then took a step closer to the dead man and placed his hand against the _aruetii_'s forehead.

"_Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum, vod_," he murmured, head bowed. "You fought like a true Mandalorian today. You deserve your rest."

He straightened and turned to the other two. "Okay. We should head out now. No telling what'll be waiting for us in the next room."

* * *

**Unknown location, somewhere in the southeast quadrant of Tandori**

Vhetin crept down the street, rifle at the ready, scanning for any Trandoshans. Or for any signs of the supercommandos, but after a good hour of futile searching he wasn't optimistic.

He reached the corner and glanced around, activating his helmet's night vision. He turned his head slowly, looking for anything that might possibly want to tear his face off, then signaled for Jay to move up.

She quickly sprinted forward from her previous post watching their six from the cover of a wrecked speeder.

"Anything?" she asked as soon as she was close enough.

He shook his head and shouldered his rifle again. "There's a cantina over on the other side of the street but apart from maybe finding a shotgun behind the bar I don't think there'll be anything of value inside."

"Do you think they have comms?"

"I doubt 're probably jammed like the rest of the city."

She looked over his shoulder and said, "Wait… is that a medcenter down there?"

He narrowed his eyes, increasing his HUD view to 5x zoom and looking in the direction she pointed. Sure enough, there was a sparking medcenter sign further down the street.

"It looks like the power is out to the building," Jay whispered, "but we may be able to find some medical supplies for your chest."

"I told you I'm fine."

"And I told _you_ that's not true. Do you want it to get infected? I don't think even Rame would be able to treat you at that point."

He sighed and relented. "Fine. Let's just make it fast."

Working as quickly as safely possible, they made their way up the street that was clogged with broken-down speeders. Further down the street the breeze slowly blew a door open with a loud creak.

"What's your motion tracker say?" Jay whispered. "Anyone in the area?"

He consulted the small triangular motion tracker on his HUD and turned his head to scan the area.

"Nothing," he finally said. He switched off his HUD systems when he saw the power supply monitor on the left side of the projection dwindle to nineteen percent power. "We're clear for now."

"I almost hate that more," she said. "At least when the Trandos are shooting at you, you know where the hell they are."

"I agree. But I'm not exactly complaining."

They reached the front door of the medcenter. Vhetin pressed his back to the wall next to the door and motioned for Jay to take point. She nodded and made her way into the building at a slow, cautious pace.

"Front lobby's clear," she whispered back. "Come on in."

He turned around the corner and stepped inside. The front doors were blasted inward and the floor inside was covered in shattered glass. There were a few signs of Trandoshan activity — a shotgun blast burn on the wall, a tiny pool of blood from where the lizards had cut their bare feet on the glass shards — but it looked like the place was mostly intact.

"Where do you think their surgical center is?" Jay asked, not lowering her rifle.

"I don't think it would matter even if we knew," he said, sighing in exasperation. "Has Rame been teaching you first-aid skills?"

"As a matter of fact he has," she said, a little indignantly. "I'm no doctor, but I should be able to at least stitch you up a bit."

He stared at her, then nodded and said, "Okay. I'm sorry."

"It's all right," she said. "You're cranky when you're hurt. I understand."

He chuckled a little and said, "Let's find a map and see where they keep their medical supplies. The Trandos haven't scouted this building much but that doesn't mean they'll stay away forever."

He spotted a small black box mounted in the wall near the door. He lowered his rifle and walked up to it. He activated his HUD for a moment and scanned it, making sure it wasn't some IED the lizards had worked up.

"What are you doing?"

He studied the box for a moment more before grasping the cover and yanking on it as hard as he could. The metal bent slightly, releasing a tortured screech. A few moments later the screws popped out of their housing with a series of staccato pings. He wrenched the cover off the box and let it fall to the floor.

"What is that?" Jay asked. "You're not thinking of plugging up to your helmet again, are you?"

"That was a different situation," he said. "The entire block had no power. Right now it's just this building. I'm thinking something tripped the circuit breaker."

He flipped a switch and overhead lights suddenly powered on, shedding clean bluish light across the main reception room. There were distant clicks as lights turned on all throughout the building.

"That should help," he said. "Let's go."

It was only a few minutes of searching before they found a holographic map of the facility on the wall. Vhetin chanced activating his HUD for a moment to record the image for future reference.

"Okay," Jay said, stepping closer and touching the "surface" of the map with a fingertip. "We're here, just outside the main reception area. And it looks like we need to go..."

She slowly moved her finger. "Here. The surgical bay on the third floor. Think we can make it?"

"I think you won't let this matter rest until we've tried. I don't think there's any Trandos in the area but let's take it slow and steady just in case."

"Lead the way."

They traveled quickly through the wide halls, making sure to check around corners and behind half-opened doors for any Trandoshans lying in wait. They easily made it to the ground floor stairway without any sign of enemy activity.

Vhetin took point on the stairs, taking them two at a time until he reached the third floor door. He stole a glance through the door's window, looking up and down the hall beyond. Since the lights were on he could easily see a long hallway with doors on either side. There was a lighted sign further down the hall that read _SURGICAL BAY: AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY._

"Okay," he murmured, gesturing over his shoulder. "Jay, move up."

There was no answer. He frowned and looked back down the stairs.

The first floor doorway was ajar and there was no one standing there.

_Oh _shab_, _he thought. He slowly brought his rifle up and started back down the stairs.

"Jay?" he said. "Come on, now is not the time to mess around. Where are you?"

There was no answer. He scowled and crept down the stairs, eyes darting back and forth between the area right in front of him and the door back to the ground floor.

"Jay," he called as he approached the door. "If you're there, answer me."

He had barely stepped through the door when he heard Jay cry, "No! It's a trap!"

A sudden heavy weight hit him in the back of the head, knocking him onto his hands and knees. He grunted and his rifle went skittering away across the floor.

He heard a furious roar and he instinctively rolled to the side. Not a moment too soon, too; the glowing, humming blade of a large vibrosword slammed into the floor he had just occupied.

He rolled over onto his back in time to see a huge Trandoshan Elite yank its glowing green sword up from the floor and swing it over its head. It roared at Vhetin and brought the blade down with enough force to cleave a man in two.

Vhetin frantically grabbed one of the lightsabers on his belt and activated it, bringing it up just in time to block the deadly blow. The Trandoshan snarled at him, drooling and pushing against the blade with all its considerable strength.

But Vhetin, though weakened by his chest wound, still wasn't to be trifled with. He grimaced and shoved the blade away, flipping up to his feet nimbly. He saw Jay standing just behind the huge Elite, held captive by a lanky Trando hunter. She had a long alien dagger held to her throat.

Vhetin quickly nodded to her, signaling that he was all right. She nodded back, silently telling him the same, and he turned his attention to the Elite.

He slowly began to circle the lizard. With his free hand he drew his pistol. The huge armored Trando sniffed and stared at his glowing lightsaber blade before charging forward. Vhetin brought his saber up and blocked the vibrosword attack. He swung the glowing sword off to one side and fired his pistol four times into the lizard's chest.

The Elite roared as the blaster bolts slammed into its chest, leaving dark scars on its armor. It grabbed Vhetin by his helmet and flung him bodily through the air.

He smashed into the wall hard enough to crack the hard duracrete and crumpled to the ground with a grunt of pain, feeling a bolt of agony erupt through his chest. He fought to rise to his hands and knees. The Elite stomped toward him as he rose to his hands and knees. He charged forward and tackled the alien around the waist, knocking them both to the ground. The Trando yelped in surprise, then grabbed him and yanked him off its chest. It slammed him into the ground and drove its huge fist into his stomach. He gasped as the wind was knocked out of him.

The Trando clambered back to its feet and scooped up its vibrosword again, grasping it with a huge three-fingered hand. It muttered a few unintelligible words to its companion, gesturing at Vhetin. The other alien snarled and hissed back and the huge Elite chuckled. It turned back to Vhetin and held its sword two-handed over its head.

As it brought the blade down, Vhetin suddenly grabbed his fallen lightsaber from the ground and slashed up as he activated it. The glowing blue blade caught the descending sword in a shower of sparks. Vhetin grimaced as the sparks bounced off his helmet faceplate and slid his blade along the sword. The glowing lightsaber sliced through the Trando's thick wrists, severing his hands. The lizard roared as its sword – and its hands – dropped to the ground.

Vhetin didn't waste a moment, scrambling to his feet and driving his saber through the Elite's chest. The alien stiffened and stared at Vhetin with wide yellow eyes. Then it fell backwards and hit the ground with a crash.

The Trando hunter holding Jay captive snarled and moved like it was about to stab his partner in the neck. Vhetin dove for his fallen blaster, grabbing it and firing as fast as he could.

The Trando was blasted off its feet as the blue blaster bolt fired from the pistol hit it square in the forehead. Its long dagger clattered to the ground somewhere down the hall.

There was silence in the medcenter hallway. Jay stood stiffly, eyes screwed shut. She slowly opened them and looked around, then let out a long breath and glared at Vhetin.

"You cut that a little close, didn't you?"

"You wanted something more flashy?" he asked, raising an eyebrow behind his helmet faceplate.

"I thought you said the building was clear." Her frown was severe but he could hear a hint of amusement in her voice.

He laughed and slumped exhaustedly, his helmet hitting the smooth floor with a _thunk_.

* * *

Vhetin winced as Jay sewed another stitch into his skin. She glanced up at him and said, "Stop being such a baby."

"You ever had to set this many stitches?"

"No," she replied truthfully.

"Then you'll excuse me if I get a little tired of being jabbed with a glorified sewing needle over and over again."

"I'm doing the best I can," she said, frowning as she concentrated on her work and tried to remember the medical lessons Rame had taught her. "Look, it's not even going to ruin your tattoo."

Vhetin was sitting on a surgical table in front of her, chest armor removed, grudgingly allowing her to stitch up his chest wound. He had been forced to remove his helmet in order to remove the top half of his flight suit, but had pulled on a thin cloth facemask while his back was to her. His helmet was resting on the tabletop next to him.

They had found surgical equipment quickly once they'd made it to the medical bays and Vhetin himself had used a scalpel to carefully pry out the shotgun pellets that had embedded themselves in his skin; after all, he could feel them and she couldn't.

The majority of the shotgun blast he'd taken to the chest had been deflected by his armor, but the spray of metallic pellets had also dug into the gaps in his chest plates. He had over twenty small gunshot wounds scattered across his torso.

"So," she said as she touched his skin lightly and tightened one of the stitches, "how did you get that tattoo anyway? A reminder of your more rebellious years?"

He winced as she poked the needle into his skin again, his dark blue eyes narrowing in pain. Jay ignored him and glanced at the tattoo in question; two complex stripe-shaped designs that stretched around Vhetin's throat like a necklace before running down his left shoulder and arm and joining up across the back of his left hand. The tattoo was a dark greenish-black color and it rippled slightly as he tightened his muscles in discomfort.

"I've had it for a long time," he said, flexing his left hand. His quiet voice was muffled slightly by his black facemask.

"Oh?" she said, raising an eyebrow. "How long?"

"As long as I can remember."

"Really? I always thought it was some kind of Mandalorian ritual tattoo. You know, like Ge'tal had."

A friend of Jay's, Ge'tal Gratu'a, had quite a collection of Mandalorian tattoos. She had always assumed Vhetin had gotten his after he'd converted to the Mandalorian way of life as a way to drive home to himself and everyone else around him that he was a true Mando.

But he shook his head and said, "I must have gotten it when… when I was younger."

"When you were a kid?"

"Sure."

She chuckled as she worked, readjusting her grip on the needle in her fingers. "Your parents must have been so proud when you came home with _that_ beauty. I know my parents were."

"What, you have a tattoo?"

She grinned. "Yeah. But I'm not going to show it to you. We're not that good friends."

"Oh. One of those tattoos."

"Yeah," she laughed. "One of those tattoos."

"Well," he said, "I honestly don't know how my parents reacted. I never met them."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't remember them. You could say I'm an orphan, I guess."

"I'm… sorry?" she said. She really didn't know how to reply to that. Was that the big secret about his past? She didn't think so; he had come clean with it too quickly and it didn't seem like a big enough secret to warrant him keeping it from virtually everyone in his life.

He shook his head, then cursed as he accidentally tugged against her stitchwork. "Don't be sorry. It was a long time ago, and I don't really care."

"How could you not care who your parents were? Isn't most of Mando culture about the bond between parents and their children?"

"I guess I only started caring about life after I came to Mandalore. Rame and Mia and Brianna are my family now. Everything that came before doesn't matter."

"Is that why they call you Cin Vhetin?"

He nodded. "I guess. What about you?"

"What about me? I already told you about _my_ past. You're the only one left who's still mysterious."

"No, I mean what about your parents? What did they think when you-"

"Got my tattoo? They freaked out. I was grounded for _months_."

"I was going to ask what they thought when you joined the Navy."

She shrugged. "I was never really close to my parents. I have six siblings. Not exactly surprising, I guess."

"I don't think it matters how many siblings you have," he said, "your parents still must have been worried or something when you left."

"I didn't get a single message from them the entire time I was with the Navy."

"None of your family even so much asked where you were?"

"My brothers and sisters called me. Especially Arian, my little sister."

"You two were close?"

She nodded. "She and I were the two youngest in my family. We were always inseparable."

"And what does she think now that you're a bounty hunter?"

She hesitated. "I… I haven't told her."

"Understandable," he said. "You don't want her to worry."

"Yeah," she sighed. "More than that… I just don't want her to think less of me, you know? She's an up-and-coming lawyer and I trawl through the galaxy's criminal underworld every day with a partner I know next to nothing about."

"On the bright side," he said, "if you're ever arrested again you can get her as your defense attorney."

She tugged against his stitches hard enough to make him curse. Then she cut the string with a nearby scalpel and said, "I almost like it better when you're all moody and brooding."

He gently rubbed his chest and said, "Point taken. Thanks for stitching me up."

She smiled and clapped him on the shoulder as she turned to grab a roll of bandages. "You're welcome. Just don't go and get yourself shot and make all my work be for nothing."

She unrolled a length of bandages and reached across his shoulder to wrap it around his chest. She took a step closer to him in order to see better. She was moderately uncomfortable, as they were only inches apart now.

"Make sure to tell me if the bandages come loose," she said, her voice betraying none of her awkwardness.

"I'll take care of it if they do," he said. His voice was suddenly very tense. "You're not the only one with first-aid training."

He took the bandage from her. His hand was very smooth. "I can get that, thanks."

She let him take the bandage, taking a step and blushing slightly; she had unconsciously been all but hugging him around the neck. She cleared her throat awkwardly and said, "Right. Okay, so where do we head next?"

He glanced at her with his intense blue eyes, then looked at the floor as he concentrated on wrapping the bandages tightly around his chest. "We should keep moving. We were already attacked by Trandos in this building and I'm in no mood to go through that again."

"And you're sure you're all right?"

He glanced at her again, this time holding her gaze. After a time he nodded. "I'm fine."

"Okay," she said. "I'll just… uh, go and keep an eye on the hall, okay?"

He nodded again. "Go ahead."

She turned and headed for the door, blushing furiously but glad he couldn't see it now. She didn't bother asking again if he was all right. She was sure he wasn't.

But like she had said, they weren't that good friends.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Jaing muttered, scowling as he typed furiously into the surveillance station's keyboard. Numbers and pop-up windows flashed across the holoscreen in front of him.

"I would do it myself," Brianna said, "but I'm not as good with computers as you are."

"Do you realize how much trouble we're going to be in when someone finds us doing this?"

"We're just readjusting the surveillance equipment so I can keep an eye out for Cin. There's nothing wrong with that."

"But it's not what we're supposed to be doing."

"So?" she said. "Sazh cleared the rest of the room. The way I see it we did our job. Now keep typing."

The old clone shook his head and ran a hand over the dark stubble of his hair. Then he scowled and kept typing.

"Bring up the surveillance cams on the west side of the building," she said, pointing to a window on the holoscreen. "How're the comms coming?"

He shook his head. "They're working fine but good luck trying to get through the jamming signal the lizards have set up."

He gestured to a comm terminal behind them and said, "You're welcome to try and get a message out, but I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you."

She nodded and stepped up to the holoterminal. She typed a few commands to bring up the transmission screen and quickly entered Cin's comm channel number. The screen showed a _LOADING_ screen for a few moments before displaying _TRANSMIT MESSAGE NOW._

Brianna let out a long breath before pressing the transmission button and saying, "Cin? Cin, if you're there please answer me."

There was no answer but a burst of static. She licked her lips nervously and continued, "This is Bri. I'm transmitting this message from the local spaceport. If you pick up this broadcast, the supercommandos are holed up here. I don't know how long we're going to stay, though. If you get this message, please get over here. You have no idea how worried I am."

She hesitated, listening to the sounds of Jaing muttering to himself as he worked. Then she said, "Please, Cin. If you're listening to this, at least try and contact me. I'm waiting for you."

Then she sighed and ended her transmission. She quickly typed into the terminal, setting the comm unit to repeat the message on Cin's comm channel frequency every five minutes. She also set it to alert her comlink and patch her through if someone responded to the transmission. Then she sighed and let her shoulders slump.

It was only a matter of waiting now. She hoped he would find her message and make his way back.

"Well, well, well," a familiar gravelly voice suddenly said from the darkness. "Workin' on a few extracurricular activities, eh?"

Brianna's gaze instantly snapped up from the holoterminal screen and she quickly shut down the window she was looking at. "What?" she said, going pale. "I-I don't know what you're-"

"Don't give me that," Tobbi Dala said, stepping out of the shadows with eyes that were blazing with fury. "I heard everythin' you just said."

"Dala," she said. "Just hear me out... this isn't what it looks-"

"Shysa sends me down here to check up on you guys and see if the surveillance equipment is working," Dala snarled. "He figures we can set up the cams to search for any Trando movements in the area. Imagine my surprise when I find that you've already found a better use for 'em."

"Tobbi," Jaing said, "if _te Mand'alor_ wants these cams repurposed, I'm sure Brianna would be more than happy to-"

"Shut up!" Dala snapped. "You're both comin' with me. You disobeyed orders, and you repurposed valuable resources to suit your own needs. Shut this place down and I'll get some _loyal_ Supercommandos to get in here and deal with this stuff."

"Dala-"

"Now!"

Brianna sighed, her heart sinking, and shut down the holoterminal. Dala scowled at them and gestured for them to follow him. He turned away and stalked down the hall they'd come, muttering to himself about irresponsible _aruetiise_ and the dumb Mandalorians that got caught up in their act.

"Dala," Jaing said quietly as they walked, "Brianna was trying to find Vhetin. Technically that means she was trying to contact reinforcements. We need every Mando we can get out here."

"Don't try and give me that weak-ass excuse," the man growled. "Brianna was wasting valuable time and resources tryin' to find her boyfriend when we all know he's probably dead already."

Jaing winced. "That's a little harsh."

"Yeah, well I'm pissed," he snapped. "And the truth is never pretty. She's wastin' her time tryin' to find him and we need every soldier we have focused on the task at hand."

"I know," Brianna sighed. "But can you at least see my position? My boyfriend and his partner are out there somewhere, maybe wounded, maybe _dead_, and I have to just sit on my hands here and pretend that nothing happened?"

"You're supposed to _follow orders_," Dala growled. "If you pulled your head out of your ass for a minute, you'd see that if we neutralize the Trandoshans, your boyfriend won't be in any danger."

"What happens until then? This city is one giant death trap."

"He's a tough _Mando'ad_. A smart _Mando'ad_. He knows how to survive in these situations."

"But-"

"Stop _arguin'_," he snapped as they stepped into the maintenance bay. There was a team of Mandos searching the area, looking for anything that could be of use for the tech crew. It looked like they weren't doing well; the equipment that hadn't been destroyed during the earlier battle with the Trandos amounted to a pitiful stack of repair kits and vehicle parts.

"If Shysa decides to let you off," Dala said, "then that's his choice. But as long as you're with me, you both can count yourselves officially suspended from active duty. You're to stay out of deployments and under Supercommando supervision until I say otherwise."

Jaing groaned as they picked their way around the twisted storage racks left behind by the grenade blast earlier. "Come on, Tobbi. You just said we need every soldier we can get."

"Not now," Dala said. "Now that the spaceport is secure we've sent messengers up to the Imperial space station in orbit. They've requested Shysa's presence for a special meeting. No one's goin' to be fightin' until he gets back."

"A meeting with the Imps?" Brianna said. "What do they want?"

"They didn't say. Lucky for you, you'll get to find out in person. You two are part of _Mand'alor's_ security detail."

Jaing groaned again, louder this time. "Bodyguard work? Come on Dala, punish us as much as you want but don't _insult_ us as well. Shysa's more than capable of taking care of himself."

"As far as I'm concerned, you're both stayin' right where I can see you. It'll be a cold day in _haran_ before I let you sneak off again and mess with tech we need."

Brianna sighed and rubbed her eyes wearily. "Who else is going up?"

"Trayc Ramser, Wad'e Rangir, and a couple other Mandos you probably don't know. They've been allowed to sit in on the meeting. Apart from that it's just me and Shysa."

Jaing shook his head. "This is kriffing ridiculous."

"Come again?" Dala said. "You should consider yourselves lucky I didn't throw you _out_ of the damn Protectors. It's only 'cause Shysa likes you that I'm lettin' you off easy."

"Suspended from active duty and forced to hold _te Mand'alor_'s hand when he's perfectly capable of taking care of himself?" Jaing scoffed. "I'm stunned by your merciful nature."

"Keep talkin' like that and I can have you put on 'fresher-digging duty. And no amount of fancy computer skills can help you with _that_, smartass."

Jaing quickly shut his mouth and muttered, "_N'eparavu takisit."_

"That's better," Dala grunted as they emerged out into the main spaceport hall. The place was almost deserted now and there were only a few scattered teams of Supercommandos left, talking and exploring the area. Shysa was currently near the front doors, talking with a group of six Mandalorians gathered around him in a rough semi-circle.

"This'll just be a simple info run," he was saying. "The Imp Governor of Tachador and the Prime Minister of the native Tachadori species here."

"So mind your manners and don't stare at the big purple one," one of the Mandos said. The small group laughed.

Shysa chuckled along with them and said, "Seriously though, lads. We don't want to piss off the Governor or the Prime Minister and have 'em cut off our reinforcements just to spite us. So mind yer manners and try to look like respectable soldiers."

One of the Mandalorians gestured to his armor — which was splattered with Trandoshan blood — and said, "I'm wearin' the blood of the enemy. If that doesn't get me some respect..."

A Mando woman nudged the man in the shoulder and said, "Didn't your _buir_ ever tell you that _aruetiise_ don't like blood? They think it's too violent for their tastes."

"Hey _Mand'alor_," Dala said as they approached the group. "Got a couple others to head up with us."

"Jaing, Brianna," Shysa said, inclining his head. "What made you two decide to accompany us?"

Brianna glanced at Dala and said, "Just looking to… get away from the fighting for a bit. A change of scenery might do us some good."

Shysa glanced at Dala as well and narrowed his eyes slightly. "Well, nice to have you with us. Any word from Vhetin?"

Brianna glanced at Dala again and quietly said, "No. Nothing."

One of the Mandos nodded sympathetically and said, "I'm sure he'll turn up. He never was one to stay out of a fight."

Brianna nodded, wishing the man hadn't referred to Vhetin as if he was already dead. "Thanks. I'm sure he will show up before long."

"Are you sure you want to tag along? You're more than welcome to stay here, lass."

"No," she said, "I'll come along. Like I said, a change of scenery might be good."

"Long as you're sure," Shysa said. He turned back to the group at large and clapped his hands. "The transport's leavin' in ten minutes. Everyone say your good-byes then meet me and Dala in docking bay thirteen."

Brianna nodded and turned to see Rame standing a few meters away, engaged in conversation with a Mandalorian woman she had never met before. She quietly walked up behind him and touched his shoulder.

He jumped like a shot had gone off behind him and spun to face her. When he saw her he let out a long breath and clutched his chest.

"Damn, _Brian'ika_," he said, "you scared the living _osik_ out of me."

"Sorry," she said quietly.

"You know I'm not as young as I used to be," he said. "One of these days you're going to do that and I'm just going to keel over and die. My tired old heart will just explode."

"You sell yourself short, Omotao," the Mando woman said as she moved to walk away. "You'll be lucky if you don't take a shotgun blast to the face. You'll probably die that way."

"I just wanted to say," Brianna murmured, "that I'm heading up with Shysa and Dala to that meeting on the space station."

"Really?" he said, raising an eyebrow. "You sure about that? If you're gone, who's going to look for-"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Could you keep an eye out for me? You know, in case Cin comes back or contacts us?"

He nodded, frowning. "Yeah. But... why are you going up again?"

She sighed and rubbed her forehead awkwardly. "Um… Dala caught me adjusting the spaceport surveillance cams."

"Ooh," he said and frowned sympathetically. "How'd he take that?"

"Let's just say I would feel better off if I was a Trandoshan."

He sighed. "I'll talk to him-"

"No, no," she interrupted. "Just leave it to me, okay?"

"Okay," he said slowly. "If you're sure."

"I'm sure."

"Then I'll call you if we get any word from Cin."

"Thanks," she said with a smile.

"We'll hold the fort down until you get back," he said. "The Trandos won't stand a chance."

Even as he spoke, the line of Mandalorians standing guard over the door released another volley of blaster fire at the few remaining Trandos trying to fight their way into the port.

* * *

**Imperial Space Station _Importunate, _two hours later**

Brianna stood with the other Mandos arranged in a line behind _Mand'alor_ Shysa. They were all standing in the large, circular Governor's offices onboard the _Importunate_. She and the other Supercommandos had just made their way through several security checkpoints where they had to verify their identity several times over and relinquish their weapons.

When they had finally made their way through the security posts they had met with the Imperial Governor, a human man named Quor, and the Tachadori Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Adulal was definitely a sight; at least seven feet tall with deep purple skin, long black dreadlocks, and glowing yellow eyes. As the Governor made the introductions the Prime Minster regarded them all with a cool, calculating gaze. He introduced himself with a deep, smooth voice.

The Governor wasn't anything special. He was a normal middle-aged man with graying hair and dark blue eyes. He was the one who started off the meeting, shaking the hands of all the assembled Supercommandos and thanking them for coming to the space station.

"I was almost sure you would refuse to come," he said. "I've heard that Mandalorians are… fiercely independent, shall I say?"

"You're the ones signing the checks," Shysa said. "So what did ya need, then?"

"Information," the Prime Minister said in his deep, smooth voice. He folded his arms across his chest, slightly wrinkling his flowing black robe. "How goes the offensive within the city?"

Shysa tapped a code into his gauntlet-mounted datapad and his helmet projector flashed up a three-dimensional map of Tandori City. Tapping in more commands, he rotated the map so it was facing vertically in the air. He picked out the plaza and circled it with his forefinger. In turn, the hologram encircled the plaza with a glowing green line.

"So far we've secured the city from Varista Memorial Plaza here to the Tachador Major Spaceport here."

He drew a line on the map between the Mandalorian F.O.B to the spaceport Brianna had just left. The two lines merged to create a circle surrounding about five miles of the city.

"Basically," Shysa said, indicating the circle, "this entire area is secure. We're meetin' small pockets of Trando resistance but nothing even comin' close to the numbers we first went up against."

"Do you think you have destroyed the main invasion force?" Governor Quor asked. He sat down behind his desk and folded his hands expectantly.

Shysa shook his head. "No. Trandos may not be the smartest beings in the universe but they're more'n smart enough to know that they lost a good third of their _vode_ in the initial assault. My guess is that they split up their forces into smaller groups after they realized that goin' toe-to-toe with us is a bad idea any day of the week."

"What about refugees?" the Prime Minister asked. "Have you come across any civilians?"

"Our patrols haven't even found bodies," Shysa said, shaking his head, "be it civvies or stormtroopers."

The Prime Minister glanced at the Governor before asking, "What happened to them all?"

"We think those who didn't retreat from the city during the main Trando attack may be bunkered down in an area we haven't secured yet. It's a big bloody city."

"How many soldiers do you have left?" the Governor inquired.

"Dala?"

Shysa's second-in-command stepped forward and said, "Out of our initial three-hundred-fifty soldiers, we got twenty dead, twenty-five too wounded to continue the fight. With all due respect Governor, Prime Minister, if we don't get some fierfeking reinforcements we're all going to die down there."

"Dala," Shysa said warningly. "Mind your manners, _vod_."

"_Mand'alor_," the man said, bowing his head respectfully.

"Though I'll be a little more polite than my mate here," Shysa said as he turned back to the Governor and Prime Minister, "what he said was essentially true. We need reinforcements, and we need 'em bad."

"I am sure that will not be a problem," Adulal said. He turned to the Governor and cocked his head. "Will it, Governor?"

Quor grimaced. "I have sent word to the local Moffs about this invasion and I'm afraid they are loath to send in Imperial troops to a combat zone that is so obviously overrun with enemies."

"What?" Adulal said, narrowing his yellow eyes.

"_What_?" Dala echoed.

"I am sorry," Quor said, "but I have my orders. No Imperial troops will be sent planetside until the situation is controlled. Or at least more controlled than it currently is."

"You can't be serious!" Trayc Ramser said, taking a step forward. "We're getting ripped to pieces down there!"

"_Vod_," Shysa said. "Calm down."

"No, I agree," a Mando woman said. "I know we're only down there because we're expendable, but this is kriffing _insulting_!"

"I'm sorry-" the Governor began.

Ramser interrupted him again. "The city is overrun. Not by a single invasion force now, but by hundreds of little squads of lizards. We can't handle it all on our own. We did the bulk of the work and now we need you to get off your ass and do something or we're all going to die down there!"

"Ramser!" Shysa snapped. "Mind your tongue!"

The Supercommando stared at the governor through his menacing helmet faceplate, then stepped back and fell silent. Shysa glared at him for a moment, then turned back to the holomap in front of them.

Brianna glanced at Ramser as well. When she finally caught his gaze, she nodded slightly in approval. He was right; they needed more soldiers on the ground to see this contract through. The Trandos were getting sneakier by the minute. The F.O.B forces had already lost five patrols to small hit and run attacks and the Mando snipers on nearby rooftops hadn't so much as glimpsed at the offending lizards.

Prime Minister Adulal had watched the entire exchange silently, staring at them with his yellow eyes flashing. Now he turned to Quor and murmured, "You were hesitant to deal with this situation when we first received word of the Trandoshan invasion. How much worse would this have been if we had not acted? And now you are making the same mistake."

"I'm sorry," Quor said, shaking his head. "But I have my orders."

Shysa stared at him for a long time, green eyes blazing. But he said nothing other than, "If that is your choice."

Then he turned and strode toward the door, the holographic map sputtering out as he did.

"Let's go, _vode_," he said. "We're leaving."

Brianna and the other Supercommandos glared at the Governor before following their leader back out the doors. As the doors hissed shut, Brianna heard Adulal's deep voice say, "And so you have condemned them to death."

Quor sighed. "I have my orders. Now they have theirs as well."

Then the doors closed and sealed, cutting them both off. Shysa scowled as they headed back down the hall they had come, shaking his head in fury. As they walked he slammed his fist against the wall and shouted, "_Shab_!"

"Imperials are stubborn cowards," Dala said. "You did all you could."

"Fat lot of good it did," a Mando grumbled. "We're all going to die now."

"We could just leave," the Protector woman said. When the others glanced at her she shrugged and said, "You know, pack up the _Hodayc_ and head back to Mandalore."

"Can you even imagine what damage that would do?" another Mando said. "If word gets out that the Supercommandos abandoned a contract can you imagine what that would do to our reputation as warriors? There wouldn't be a decent deployment for decades to come. Protector deployments are Mandalore's number one source of income!"

"He's right, _vod'ika_," Shysa said. "We can't leave now. We're in this till the end, for better or worse."

"There may still be a chance," said a deep voice behind them, "for it to end for the better."

The Supercommandos all turned to find Prime Minister Adulal standing behind them, hands folded regally into his robe's sleeves. He regarded all of them with his intense glowing eyes.

"What do you mean?" Shysa said, narrowing his eyes.

"Governor Quor is a capable leader in times of peace," Adulal said, bowing his head slightly, "but Tachador has never before seen a crisis of this magnitude. He is proving himself to be quite inept at making decisions that guarantee the survival of the city. As such, I believe it is time for me to take matters into my own hands."

"How so?"

"You will not be returning to Tandori alone," Adulal said. "When the city came under attack, one of the first things we did was evacuate as many inhabitants as we could, civilians and military forces alike. Among those who were evacuated was a large group of Tachadori City Guard. And fortunately, as they are not members of the human Imperial forces, they are under _my_ command and not the command of the Governor. They will accompany you into the city to bolster your forces."

"How many soldiers do you have?" Dala asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Some two hundred."

Dala glanced at Shysa for a decision. The Mandalore shrugged slightly and said, "Like you said, we need reinforcements. And the Tachadori are known for their prowess in battle."

He held out a hand to the Prime Minister.

"The Mandalorian Protectors thank you for you and your soldiers' contributions," he said with a nod. "They are more than welcome."

The Prime Minister stared down at Shysa's hand, then slowly reached out and shook it. He narrowed his eyes slightly and nodded back. "You are welcome, Mandalore. I only pray that you can bring peace to my people's home once more."

"We _Mando'ade _will see our assignment through to the end," Shysa said, his voice taking on a darker tone. "I guarantee that."

* * *

**Trandoshan Occupied Area, Tandori City**

Vhetin ducked as a Trandoshan shotgun fired just over his helmeted head.

"Damn!" he shouted. "Jay, get down!"

She somersaulted as a Trando grenade exploded behind her, making duracrete chips rain down around them. She came to her feet and fired twice from her pistol before ducking behind a dumpster that was scarred and burned by multiple shotgun blasts.

"Where did these guys even _come _from?" she shouted, shaking hair out of her face and reloading her pistol. "Damn, I'm on my last magazine."

Vhetin stood from behind his wrecked speeder and fired a round from his gauntlet wrist rocket launcher. The rocket flew toward one of the Trandoshan Elites that had them pinned down. It hit the alien square in the chest, engulfing it in a cloud of flame and debris.

"_Oya!_" he shouted. "One big lizard down!"

She nodded and holstered her pistol. "I'm out. You got any extra weapons?"

"Do you have to ask?" He unclipped one of the extra DC rifles he'd brought from the apartment and tossed it to her. She easily caught it and leaned out from behind her cover to fire quickly at a Trando that ran at her with daggers drawn. The alien fell to a barrage of blue rifle fire and didn't move again.

"We need to move through this area in order to get to the police headquarters," Vhetin shouted over the detonations of shotgun blasts and the roar of heavy ACP repeater cannons.

"What's so special about the police quarters?" Jay shouted back.

"We may be able to use the building computer terminals to tap into the HoloNet," he said. "If we manage that, maybe we can find out what's jamming communications."

A Trandoshan jumped up on top of Jay's dumpster. She cursed and scrambled back, unloading her rifle more or less right into the alien's leathery face. It roared, fell back over the dumpster, and didn't reappear.

"How many more?" she said breathlessly as she crawled back behind cover.

Vhetin consulted his motion tracker, noticing this his helmet power had dipped beneath ten percent. He filed the information away for later and said, "There's four Trandos left. Let's take them down and get out of the streets."

"Easier said than-"

She hadn't even finished speaking before he stood and braced his feet, lowering his shoulders and firing a jetpack rocket. The rocket erupted out of its housing and spiraled up into the air. It swirled in mid-air for a few moments before spinning and roaring down into the duracrete road in front of them. It exploded with a deafening _boom_ and a burst of flame. All four Trandos went flying through the air, their bodies hitting into building walls five or ten feet up.

As the explosion faded, Jay slowly straightened and waved smoke out of her face. She stared at the smoking crater in front of them and quietly finished, "-done."

He chuckled and straightened. "Impressed?"

"As much as I hate to admit it," she said, "yes. Yes I am. Why didn't you start with that?"

He shrugged as he climbed over the hood of the speeder in front of him. "I only have one. I figured I would save it until we really needed it."

"There were _lots_ of times you could have used it. Like that time in the bank, or the time those Trandos popped up from the sewer manholes in the street..."

"Okay, okay," he said. "I get the point. But-"

He fell silent as his HUD broke up into a wash of static. He frowned and slapped the side of his helmet, thinking it was maybe electromagnetic interference. But the static only grew stronger before his HUD cut out completely.

"Damn it," he muttered with a sigh.

Jay glanced over at him. "What? What's wrong?"

He shook his head and pulled his helmet off, tossing it away. It bounced across the street before spinning to a rest a few meters away.

Jay's frown grew even more confused. He adjusted the black facemask he wore beneath his helmet and said, "HUD's gone. That helmet's only a little more useful than a water pail over my head now."

"Damn," she muttered. "Okay, so we've lost the short-range scanners, the motion tracker, the night vision, and most of the database we have about Tachador."

"But not the map," he said. He pulled a holoprojector from one of his belt pouches and shook it slightly. "I downloaded the entire rough map we've scanned so far onto this projector. We should be able to get some idea where we are when we hook it up to the police HQ's computers and sync it with the maps they have on station."

"Then what are we waiting for?" she said, turning and striding toward the distant police building. "Let's go."

He jogged to catch up with her, wincing only slightly as he put pressure on the stitches in his chest. He caught up with her as they stepped onto the tangled, overgrown grass courtyard that surrounded the police headquarters.

The building was a boxy gray building situated in the middle of what looked like a park. There were trees scattered around the area, most of them scorched and burned, and what looked like some kind of stone monument made of a pile of boulders a little closer to the building.

"Keep an eye on those trees," Vhetin said, narrowing his eyes and already missing his HUD systems. The world looked so dull without it, and it would normally be a simple matter of scanning the area for hostiles. Now they had to move quietly and slowly, checking every nook and cranny they passed for signs of hostiles.

Jay nodded, readjusting her grip on her rifle as she moved to aim at the branches of the nearest tree. The leafy tree was a perfect hiding place for a Trando ambusher.

"I've got it," she said. She kept aiming at the tree until they had passed safely out of range of a possible shotgun blast. Only then did she turn back and face forward again.

"I don't like the looks of this," she murmured. "There's no sign of Trandoshan activity here."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

She shook her head. "No, I mean there's signs of a fight, but no Trandos."

She pointed to a scorched area of grass and said, "Look at that. That's an old blaster shot. But what happened to the Trandos who were here? Or their enemies?"

He shrugged, looking at a series of blasts in the ground that looked like they had come from a Trando ACP repeater. There was a splatter of greenish blood on the grass, but nothing else. "Maybe the lizards took their dead and wounded out of here."

"Have they been doing that at all in the past?"

"Hm… good point." She was right; during every encounter they'd had with the lizards so far, the Trandoshans had retreated without an apparent thought for their fallen comrades. They had left the bodies where they were, slumped over speeder hoods or just sprawled out in the middle of the street.

"And who were they fighting?" Jay continued quietly, swiveling to aim at another nearby tree. "Where are _they_?"

"Maybe it was the Supercommandos," Vhetin said. "Maybe they didn't suffer any casualties."

The words were barely out of his mouth before they passed a large red bloodstain on the grass. The grass blades were bent as if a body had lain there, but there was no corpse there now.

He lowered his rifle and stepped toward the bloodstain. He glanced around and checked that he was clear before kneeling and touching the bent blades.

"This is recent," he murmured. "Whatever happened here happened not long ago."

"Exactly," Jay said. "So where is everybody?"

An armored figure suddenly jumped up on top of the stone monument, hopping nimbly to the top of the boulder and aiming an Imperial-issue rifle at them. Vhetin was instantly on his feet, rifle aimed at the new being.

It was human; at least it looked like it. The being was clothed in a bundle of burnt rags and had heavy gloves on its hands. A pair of heavy welding goggles was strapped across its face and it was wearing some kind of ragged hood. It had heavy combat boots on its feet and a Trandoshan shotgun slung across its back on some kind of self-made strap.

The being stared at the two bounty hunters before gesturing furiously with its rifle and shouting at them in a language Vhetin didn't understand.

"Who the _shab_ is this guy?" he muttered.

Jay shook her head and said, "I think we should just back up and head back the way we came. This guy looks like he means business."

But as they turned, more ragged figures surrounded them, aiming blasters or shotguns at them. They seemed to melt out of the scenery, rising from the overgrown grass or jumping down from the cover of the trees. They all wore outfits similar to the first being, with goggles and hoods and burnt, ragged coats.

Vhetin and Jay turned back to the first being to find that he was joined now by at least six others, all aiming their weapons at them. Vhetin looked around and saw they were now completely surrounded. There must have been fifteen of the mysterious beings, all of them armed. He scowled as he saw that some of them were wearing the unmistakable green and red plates of Supercommando armor.

He glanced at Jay and muttered, "Do you have another plan?"


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Blackout

**Tandori Police HQ**

Vhetin slowly dropped his rifle, pistols, and lightsabers to the ground, aware of Jay doing the same next to him. Once he had made it clear to the oddly dressed soldiers surrounding them that he was completely disarmed, he raised his hands in a placating motion. The last thing he wanted was for these guys to believe he meant them harm.

The first being shouted at them again, speaking faster than before and gesturing with his Imperial rifle. Jay stared at him and shook her head. "I'm sorry, but we have no idea what you're saying."

Another being hopped down from the rock-pile monument and stepped toward them. He was wearing heavy welding goggles like the rest and had a ratty cloth mask covering the lower half of his face. He kept both of them in his rifle sights and growled in accented Basic, "Who are you?"

"Who are _you_?"

"I'm the one with the bleedin' rifle," the man said. "Answer my question."

Vhetin glanced at Jay before saying, "We're soldiers. We were split up from our main troop force. We're just trying to find them."

"And who are you working with? The karking lizards?"

Vhetin shook his head. "We're fighting them."

Another soldier behind them laughed. "That's a good one. We all know the Empire wouldn't have sent in troops. The first thing they did when Tandori came under attack was pull all their fighting forces out of the city. They must have been afraid they'd lose valuable assets that could be put to use not defending _another_ city."

"We're not with the Empire," Jay said. "They just hired us to eliminate the Trandoshans."

Quiet mutters spread through the assembled soldiers. The man standing in front of them glanced at one of the beings nearby, his face unreadable behind his heavy welding goggles and his ragged facemask. Eventually he stared at them and cocked his head.

"Who are you?"

Vhetin gestured to what remained of his armor and said, "I'm a Mandalorian."

"A mercenary?"

"He shrugged. "Occasionally. I work most of the time as a bounty hunter. But our leader called for soldiers and I answered."

The man nodded, thinking over that, then turned his scrutiny to Jay and said, "What about you?"

"I work with him," she said. "I decided to help him on this deployment."

"You volunteered to get shot at?"

She smiled weakly. "I've never had much common sense."

"Apparently," the man muttered. "What are you doing in Tandori?"

"We told you," Vhetin said, "we're split from our group. We're trying to find them again."

"How many soldiers were deployed with you?"

Vhetin glanced at Jay again, who shrugged. He sighed and turned to the man in front of them. "About three hundred and fifty."

More excited murmurs through the crowd. The shabby-looking soldiers whispered among each other and pointed at Vhetin and Jay.

"Air support?" the soldier in front of them asked.

"Yes. And artillery support from heavy tanks as well."

The man was silent, nodding to himself. He turned to the soldier standing on the top of the rock pile and shouted to him in the same language he'd spoken earlier.

The first soldier snapped back at him, gesturing with his rifle. The man nodded and looked between Vhetin and Jay. Then he jerked his thumb over his shoulder and said, "Follow me. Leave your weapons; they will be returned to you if we say so. You will stay with our group. No wandering off and no 'exploring'. Clear?"

Jay nodded. "We understand."

The soldier nodded, satisfied. Then he turned and strode toward the police building. Jay glanced at Vhetin and murmured, "He's the first stranger we've met who hasn't shot at us when he first catches sight of us. Should we trust him?"

"I don't think they mean us harm," Vhetin said and cautiously began following the man. "I think they're just cautious of any Trando allies."

He picked up his pace and fell into step next to the Basic-speaking man. "I noticed that some of your men are wearing Mandalorian armor. Where did they get it?"

"They took it," the man said, "from soldiers they've found during patrols around the city."

"You've found the Supercommandos?" Jay said, jogging up to them. "Where are they?"

"We've run across a few here and there," the man said. "We thought they were mercs helping the Trandoshans."

"And they just gave you their armor?" she said skeptically.

"No," he said. "But it wasn't like the soldiers we found really needed it any more."

"Oh. So it was an old battlefield?"

The man nodded silently.

"What about the spaceport?" Vhetin asked. "Did you find any working vehicles there?"

The man shook his head. "We couldn't get in. There were Trandos swarming over the place and something was going on inside. Our guys aren't wearing fancy karking armor, so we didn't really investigate further."

The man opened the front door of the Police HQ and gestured for them to step inside. Vhetin held the door for Jay before stepping inside.

Just inside he saw a long central hallway with tiled floors and branching halls leading deeper into the building. There were equipment packs scattered across the floor and bare cot mattresses pushed up against the walls. A few humans and humanoid species looked up as they entered, their eyes dull and their skin and clothes dirty.

"What is this place?" Jay asked, frowning as they passed a family of Twi'leks huddled around each other. "A refugee shelter?"

"This is the last bastion in the entire city," the soldier said. As they stepped fully inside he pulled his hood and facemask down and pushed his goggles up his head. Vhetin saw that he was bald, with a dark black beard and bushy eyebrows. He had dark bruises on his face and forehead and an old scar running down over one eye.

"When the Imps pulled out their stormtroopers," he growled, "it was up to us police officers to keep order. Got orders straight from the karking Governor, saying that we would _know the terrain better_. Kriffing idiot."

He paused, then said, "It took us a long time and a lot of good officers to realize that we weren't soldiers. Eventually we just holed up here and broadcast that we would protect any citizens who could make it to us."

"Where did everyone go?" Vhetin said. "This place isn't big enough to hold eight million city inhabitants."

"In a minute," the man said. "Keep your karking space boots on. We still have questions for _you_ to answer."

"Okay," he said slowly. He didn't sense any true animosity from this man. He didn't think giving them information was such a bad idea if it got a little intel for them as well. "Shoot."

"You said you were deployed with a group of other Mandalorians? Where are they based?"

"We don't know," he said. "We were cut off from them early on in the offensive. We were trying to find them when your guys found us. Have you seen any starships overhead? That might have been them."

He shook his head. "The skies have been quiet. Trust me; we've been watching."

"Why?"

"During the first few days of combat," the man explained, "the Trandos used some type of modified troop transport to round civilians up and take them off planet. We still don't know what happened to those poor souls. Since then we've been careful to monitor the skies for any sign of the ships coming back."

"I'm glad we didn't run across any of those," Jay murmured. "We wouldn't have had any idea what they were."

"How long have you mercs been on the ground?"

Jay shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe two days?"

"How much progress have you made?"

"Us personally?" Vhetin asked. "Or the Supercommandos? Because I already told you we haven't been in contact with them for a day at least."

"I meant you personally," the man said.

"We're not sure. We haven't been able to link up with the citywide HoloNet to download a map. We've been manually scanning buildings with my helmet's systems for a while now, but that ran out of juice a few minutes before we found you guys."

"You backed up the map, I hope?"

He nodded and the man let out a sigh of relief.

"Finally some firsthand info," he muttered. He motioned for them to follow. "This way. Let's compare your map to ours and you can tell us what areas you've secured."

He led them into a spacious computer room with a large round holoterminal in the center of the floor. The power was still on in this sector of the city and the holoterminal was projecting real-time video feeds from the security cams set around the outside of the building.

The man closed the holographic video feed with a wave of his hand, then gestured for Vhetin to hand over his handheld projector. He reluctantly gave it to the man, who examined it and plugged it into the terminal.

The holoterminal buzzed for a moment, its projectors going dark. Then it threw up the rough map that Vhetin had been scanning since they started exploring the city earlier that day.

"Okay," the man said, resting his hands on the edge of the holoterminal, "this is the area you documented?"

"Down to the last building."

He nodded, looking slightly impressed. "You managed to scan quite a bit. So tell me; which areas of this map are clear of Trandoshan infestation?"

"Well, we can't be sure that a patrol hasn't come back in the time we've been gone," Vhetin said, "but I think most of the areas we explored are clear."

He pointed to the apartment building Jay had found. "We took cover there when we were first split up with our army. We found food and a good stock of weapons there. It would probably be worth sending a speeder over there to pick it up."

The man nodded, but said nothing. Vhetin then pointed to a major highway they had come across shortly after leaving the apartment and said, "Basically every building along this road is clear. We checked them all, but didn't find anything useful."

"There's a big medcenter here," Jay said, pointing to a building highlighted in red. "We came across a Trando patrol there, but we dealt with it pretty easily."

"We also found a Trandoshan nest here," Vhetin added, pointing to a small bolo-ball arena a few blocks down. "We counted maybe fifty Trandoshans, but there were too many to even think about engaging."

"We probably couldn't handle a force that big either," the man admitted, "but if we can find your army friends we might be able to change that."

"We continued along this highway," Vhetin explained, tracing their progress with his forefinger, "until we reached your headquarters here."

He tapped the image of the Police HQ, causing the hologram to shake slightly. Then he leaned back and folded his arms, raising an eyebrow expectantly.

The man studied their map for a moment before nodding in satisfaction. "That's good. You managed to clear out a five-mile area of the city. But if the rest of Tandori is just as overrun, we could be looking at a counteroffensive months long."

Vhetin shuddered at the thought of being deployed in the ruined city for months. But he quickly pushed that thought aside and said, "What about your map? What can you tell us about the city at large?"

The man typed in a quick series of commands into the terminal keyboard. Moments later a holographic map of the city sprang to life, rotating and overlaying itself on top of Vhetin and Jay's map.

"This is the area you explored," the man explained, gesturing to a small sector in the southwest corner of the city. "And we're here, just a few miles north of that."

"What local landmarks are in the area?"

He pointed to several areas; a statue here, a memorial park there. Nothing that gave Vhetin a clue to the location of the Mandalorian F.O.B.

"What about a bank?" Jay asked, leaning forward. "Are there any banks in the area?"

"Uh... there's Tandori City Bank here... Bonn Bank here... and ConfiBank-"

"ConfiBank," Jay interrupted. "We were there this morning. The Trandoshans blew it up with us still in it."

"Oh... yeah," the man said, "we may have had something to do with that."

"How so?" Vhetin asked, narrowing his eyes.

"We've been using different areas of the city as storage areas for some repurposed military comm boosters. The plan was to relay and amplify a signal to try and penetrate whatever's jamming comms. We managed to punch a signal through to another precinct, but the Trandos somehow found out about it. They were surprisingly fast about finding the buildings we were using as relays and destroying them. ConfiBank was one of the relays."

"Our base," Vhetin sighed, narrowing his eyes and studying the map, "was to the east of the bank in some kind of memorial plaza."

The man grimaced. "You're out of luck there. The entire southern section of the city is a collection of memorial parks and plazas. It was a haven for upper-class civilians back in the day."

"There's no way to narrow the list down?" Jay asked. "It was a big plaza, surrounded on all sides by buildings-"

"No way," he said. "There have to be at least twenty plazas that fit your description. It's a waste of time."

"So…" Vhetin began, narrowing his eyes. "How many officers do you have total?"

"One hundred," he replied. "There are others scattered around the various city precincts, but they all connect to us. We've got the most space for refugees, so they send all their civvies to us."

"Armament?"

"We have enough weapons and ammo to arm our officers. Apart from that we have two speeders outfitted with heavy laser turrets."

"Not enough to mount an effective counteroffensive," Jay murmured.

"All we've been doing is trying to stay alive and protect the civilians we have in the building," the man said. "As long as the Trandos left us alone, we were content to wait until someone else came in to support us."

Vhetin nodded. "You'd do well to tell your patrols to keep an eye out for humanoids wearing green and red armor. If you guys can link up with a Mando patrol they can evacuate the civilians you have here."

The man nodded. "Normally I wouldn't be too happy about some trigger-happy merc ordering me around but in this case I agree. Our first priority is getting these people out of the heavy combat zones. Once that's done we can focus on driving these karking lizards out of the city."

"I want this map downloaded to my projector," Vhetin said, pointing to the map. "I want to know everything you know. There may be a way out of this yet."

"Already downloading," the man said. He paused, then said, "I'm Barrage, by the way."

"Cin Vhetin. My partner's name is Jay."

She held out her hand. Barrage stared at it, then reached out and shook it.

"Glad to have you two aboard," he said.

* * *

**Mandalorian Spaceport Command Post**

Brianna sighed in relief and stretched as she stepped out of the LAAT/i's passenger bay. She was aware of other Mandos hopping down out of their transports all around the circular landing bay that the Protectors had transformed into their main troop bay.

Accompanying the LAAT/i's down to the spaceport were five angular Imperial shuttles. Brianna looked up into the cloudy sky and watched as the winged transports coasted down into the spaceport, their inverted-Y wing configuration folded up into landing mode. After a few moments, the shuttles touched down lightly on the landing bay floor and deployed their exit ramps.

Striding down the ramps came several large groups of Tachadori Warriors. Tall purple-skinned aliens with black dreadlocks for hair and glowing yellow eyes, the Warriors were all clad in dull black battle armor that, when combined with their dark purple skin, caused them to almost blend into the shadows. They carried long, elegantly designed blaster rifles and vibroblade longswords sheathed across their backs. They regarded the Mandalorians with cool detachment; not hostility, but definitely lacking in friendliness.

_Then again,_ Brianna thought, _Mandalorians must seem pretty unfriendly to outsiders as well. It's only when you come into their inner circle that you see the intricacies of their culture._

Shysa stepped out of his own transport with a group of Tachadori Warriors. He let out a long, loud sigh and pulled his helmet off. Tobbi Dala followed a few steps behind.

"Who're the newcomers?" a Mando said, walking up to greet the returning Mandalore.

"Reinforcements," Shysa replied. He gestured to the Imperial shuttles still making their way down from orbit. "And a whole bloody lot of 'em."

"Just how many?"

"Two hundred," Dala said, brushing off his shoulder pads. "Should be enough to keep us from getting our heads ripped off for a day or so."

Brianna made straight for Rame and Sazh Kisaragi, who were waiting near the doorway and watching the Tachadori Warriors with curious stares.

"Has there been any contact with Cin or Jay?" she asked, not even bothering with a greeting.

"What?" Rame said, still staring at the huge purple aliens. Then he shook his head and said, "I mean no. We haven't heard anything from Vhetin or Jay. Comms are still jammed."

She sighed, her heart sinking. "What about security cams?"

"Nothing but Trandoshans."

"Look on the bright side," Sazh said, "now that the purple people have decided to join the party we can cover more ground. The next couple patrols will probably find them."

Brianna shook her head. "No they won't, because no one is _looking_ for them. Fierfek, is there any way this deployment is going to have a happy ending?"

"Hey," Rame said with a frown. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Leave the pessimism to Cin, all right? We'll find them."

She nodded, not really believing him.

"You listening to me?" he said forcefully. "We'll _find them_. Even if we have to sneak out and look for them ourselves."

She was about to nod again when she stopped and frowned. "What? What did you just say?"

He stared at her, then cursed and said, "No. No, no, I didn't say anything. Don't listen to me."

She grinned and hugged Rame around the neck. "Thanks, _vod'ika_. You just gave me the best idea."

"I'm not going to be held responsible for whatever you're planning."

She grinned wider and said, "You won't have to. From now on I'm officially AWOL."

"Brianna," Rame said, starting after her as she made her way toward the doors into the spaceport, "don't do this. You won't help Cin if you go off and get yourself killed."

"I can handle myself," she said. "And I can help Cin if I can find him."

"_Te Manda _save you if Shysa finds out about this," Kisaragi said, shaking his head.

She grinned at him before turning and jogging into the spaceport.

She found herself cursing her own stupidity for not thinking of this before. Shysa and Dala had more important things to worry about than finding Cin, it was true. But now that the Tachadori had joined the fight, who would miss one more soldier?

On her way to the exits, she stopped by the ammunition depot staffed by Ume'o and picked up some extra ordnance for her trip. The bald-headed technician watched her grab ammunition and grenades with a skeptical eyebrow raised. He folded his arms across his chest and growled, "You look like you're stockin' up for the apocalypse."

"Something like that," she murmured, grabbing a circular concussion grenade and slipping it into one of her belt pouches.

"So where are you going to start looking for him?"

She froze. "What are you talking about?"

"Come on, Brianna," he said. "I'm a friend. Don't insult my intelligence or I may not be for much longer."

She shook her head and said, "Sorry. But I'm not going to rest until I find him and Shysa just doesn't understand that."

"I'm not judging you," he said. "If my ex-wife was out there – and if we were still married – I wouldn't hesitate to do the same thing."

"I can trust you to keep your mouth shut?"

He nodded. "As far as I'm concerned, _Mand'alor_ or not, this isn't _Fenn'ika_'s business. This is your decision and your responsibility."

She stared at him, then nodded. "Thanks."

"No problem, _vod_."

She sighed and held up an extra short-range pistol. "How much do you want for all of this?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Tell you what," he said, "if you come back without finding Vhetin, we'll talk about price. If you can find him, consider it on the house."

She stared at him, then her face broke out in a smile. She nodded and jogged away without another word.

It didn't take her long to reach the main reception hall of the spaceport. Many of the Mandalorians who had been waiting there were gone, spreading out to different sections of the spaceport.

But the place was far from empty. As Brianna strode toward the line of troopers guarding the doors a gravelly voice said, "And where d'you think you're goin'?"

She started as Norac stepped in her way, his heavy battle-axe resting on his shoulder. He raised an eyebrow and said, "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were tryin' to get out of here without bein' seen."

"Norac," she said warningly, "I don't have any problem with you. Just let me pass and we won't have a problem."

"See, I don't know about that. I had a different idea in mind."

"Which was what?"

He gestured and six other Berserkers – including Droun and Beten – stepped up to stand beside their leader. Brianna clenched her fists, preparing for a fight. She was an _aruetii_ after all and the Berserkers were known to be a little rough with outsiders.

"I don't want any trouble, guys," she said slowly.

"We do," Droun growled, flexing his grip on his huge hammer. "And that's why we're going with you."

She opened her mouth to shoot back a retort, then promptly closed it again. "_What_?"

Norac nodded, stroking his wild black beard. "That _di'kut _Shysa has kept us penned up in here for too long. We're gettin' restless. We figure you're headin' out to find your _cyar'ika_. The gloomy one with the bad attitude, right?"

She cracked a slight smile. "That's him."

"Then we're goin' with you to find him," he said. "_Te Manda _knows you're goin' to need our help."

She stared at him, then nodded and said, "Okay. Thank you."

He nodded back and said, "Just point us at the Trandos and we'll take care of the rest."

When they reached the main perimeter guard at the front doors, they explained that they were a patrol group heading out to clear the city around the spaceport. The guards nodded and stepped aside to let them pass.

Brianna took a deep breath of smoky air as they stepped outside. She shouldered her rifle and narrowed her eyes.

_Hold on, Stripes,_ she thought. _I'm coming to find you._

* * *

**Tandori Police HQ (repurposed as a refugee shelter)**

Vhetin and Jay walked down the central hallway of the police building. Jay looked at the collection of battered refugees with sympathy.

"I really hope we can drive these Trandoshans out of here," she said as they passed a small family of Twi'leks who were clustered around a young female with her leg in an awkwardly made cast. "I feel sorry for all these people."

"Disasters like this happen every day," Vhetin said. "Even if we manage to beat the lizards back, there'll be another urban disaster within the hour."

"I know," she admitted, "this isn't my first time fighting a counteroffensive operation. But I've always been in the cockpit of a fighter, so I never got so close to what was happening to the inhabitants. I feel sorry for them. Don't you?"

He shrugged. "Disasters of this magnitude bring out the best and worst in people. Great warriors can rise from situations like this. The way I see it, these civilians will either find the strength to carry on with their lives or they won't. It's that simple."

"It's also a little cold."

He shrugged again. "We Supercommandos don't have the luxury of giving up. These enforcement officers haven't given up yet. You need that kind of strength to pull through these situations."

"But not everyone has advanced Mandalorian combat training," she pointed out.

"True. But even Mandos aren't renowned warriors from birth. We've all gone through tough times to be as strong as we are. _Mishuk gotal'u meshuroke, pako kyore._"

"What does that mean?"

"_Pressure makes gems, ease makes decay_."

She raised an eyebrow. "So you wouldn't help these people if you could?"

"If helping them would actually help them," he said, "and not just lead to a situation where I was doing all the work for them, then yes. But if what they need is to face this on their own then so be it."

"What if they try to face it on their own and they die? You wouldn't feel bad about that?"

He stared at the hall in front of him for a long time before he said, "It all depends on the big picture. If saving them would only increase their need for a savior, then no. But if saving them would show them the strength needed to protect others and motivate them to learn how to defend themselves, then yes. I would."

"That seems like a pretty confusing moral standing to have."

He shook his head. "You have no idea. But I've helped people in the past who took nothing from the experience besides learning how to manipulate others to do their bidding."

He glanced at her, his dark blue eyes narrowing slightly, and said, "I'm here to help people defend themselves, not to make them help_less_. Do you understand?"

"I think so," she said. "You're saying that some people become completely dependent on those who help them. And that sometimes you need to leave them to work through things on their own."

"Or else they become little better than rock-leeches," he said, nodding.

"But you have to admit," she said slowly, "that no matter how strong you are, you're going to need help repelling an entire army of Trandoshans. Owning up to that doesn't make you a rock-leech."

He turned his gaze back to the hall in front of him and didn't say anything more. She glanced at him, then decided to change the subject. Once he got all quiet like this, it was a good idea to keep him talking or he wouldn't speak for hours on end.

"So… where do you think we'll find this Bookworm guy?"

Their new police friend Barrage had told them to find one of his companions, Bookworm, if they wanted to find out more about what happened in Tandori. For some reason the police forces had decided to take on codes instead of referring to themselves by name. Jay found it confusing but decided that they were the only ones with guns at this point so she wasn't exactly about to say their methods were stupid.

Apparently Bookworm had obtained detailed accounts of the first Trandoshan assault and had set about to compile it into a holobook reference for future generations – hence his name. Vhetin had said that learning about the first assault might provide valuable intelligence about the way these Trandoshans operated. If they could learn how their enemy thought, he had explained, they would have that much more of a chance to link back up with the Supercommandos without being caught.

In answer to her question, her partner shook his head and said, "Barrage told us he would be somewhere in the computer room."

"What, that place we just left wasn't the computer room? That map projector seemed pretty high-tech."

"That was the briefing room. The actual computer room is the area where they store their Imperial database on wanted criminals, among other things."

She smiled at him. "That database might come in handy for finding lucrative bounties. If you want, I'll keep this Bookworm distracted while you copy the files."

"No time," he said seriously. "We need to link back up with the Protectors again. They'll know we're missing by now and some of them will probably be worried sick."

"You're thinking of Brianna?"

He paused. "Yes."

"Why don't you try calling her? Didn't you say she gave you a comlink with a private channel to her own comm?"

He winced. "I… I can't. I can't risk calling her and having the Trandoshans tracking the transmission."

"Can you risk _not_ calling her? Have you ever thought of what she'd do to you if she found out you willingly decided not to call her?"

When he didn't answer she frowned slightly, thinking she may have overstepped her bounds. Trying to lighten the mood, she nudged his shoulder and said, "She'd probably bury your body in the forest. No one would ever know where to look."

He didn't laugh and Jay gave up with a quiet sigh. Sometimes it was easier just to leave him to his brooding than to try to get him to talk.

A little further down the hall was the computer room, a messy collection of holoterminals, information transport cables, and filing cabinets. There were cables and wires spread across the floor, some of them in such states of disrepair that their protective covers were gone, revealing the glowing cable wires within. Jay carefully stepped around these wires as they entered the dark room.

Standing at a holoterminal near the back of the room was a tall, skinny man with optical receptors strapped over his eyes. He was maybe in his forties or fifties and was going bald. His skin was grubby and smeared with ash and old bloodstains.

"Bookworm?" Vhetin inquired.

The man started and spun around, saying loudly, "What? What? What do you want? Leave me alone, I have work to do."

Vhetin glanced at Jay in confusion, then said, "Um… Barrage told us we could get some information from you."

"Who told you that?"

"Barrage."

"Who?"

"_Barrage_," Vhetin snapped, raising his voice.

The man stared at Jay's partner blankly for a few moments, then jumped and said, "Oh! Forgive me, my audio receiver is acting up again."

He pulled some kind of mechanical hearing aid out of his ear. He shook it and slapped it against his palm before hooking it into his ear again.

"Sorry about that," he said. He adjusted the earpiece and said, "I got a little too close to a Trandoshan fragmentation grenade during the first hours of their invasion. I lost all hearing in my left ear. This damn audio receiver was salvaged from the wreckage of a medical clinic and it hasn't worked since the moment I stuck it in my head."

"Barrage told us that we could learn about the first Trandoshan assault from you," Jay said slowly, unsure whether she should raise her voice. "We need to know about what happened."

Bookworm pulled down his bulky optical receptors and rubbed the lenses, squinting at them. He pulled them back up over his eyes and squinted at them. "Ah," he said, "I recognize you now. You're those two mercenaries we found wandering around out front."

"Right. Can you help us?"

He scratched his balding head and said, "Eh... I'm kinda busy right now. I've got to compile all this data."

"We need to know," Vhetin said. "We think that if we can find out how the Trandos operate we can somehow link up with the rest of our group."

He nodded. "Okay. If you'll take a seat..."

Jay looked around the room and frowned. There were no chairs, no crates, nothing that would even serve as a makeshift chair. Bookworm seemed to notice this as well because his face fell and he murmured, "Ah. Well, if you'll just, uh, step closer..."

He tapped furiously into the holoterminal keyboard, rubbing his optical receptor lenses. The holoterminal began to hum and glow. It didn't do any more than that and Bookworm cursed and kicked at the terminal with his boot.

There was a loud _chunk_ and the terminal threw up a holographic window. He began typing again and a video window popped up.

"Here we go," he muttered, typing — if possible — even faster.

"Two weeks ago," he began, "Tandori Police forces noticed an increase in hostilities committed by Trandoshans. Several officers were wounded, but nothing overly serious. A few days after that, one of our officers stumbled across a Trando nest inside an old meat-processing plant. There had to be fifty lizards in there, and the six investigating officers were killed trying to control the situation."

The holographic video began playing, replaying the shaky image from a riot trooper's helmet cam. It showed a dark room, lit intermittently with bright flashes of blaster fire.

"Backup!" the trooper with the helmet cam shouted. "We need backup _now_!"

"Keep firing!" shouted a female officer. Moments later a lanky Trando Hunter tackled her and she began to scream.

The cam trooper swiveled to fire at the alien, but a squat Trando Minor slashed at him with a long dagger. The cam viewpoint bounced as the trooper fell to the ground. The rest of the recording dissolved into blurry, jumpy images and the sounds of multiple voices screaming.

Bookworm shut down the recording with a sigh. He tapped into the holoterminal and another window popped up.

"The Empire took control of the situation at that point," he explained, "and sent in a stormtrooper strike team to neutralize the Trandoshans. That may have been where this mess started, in retrospect."

"What do you mean?"

"Four hours after the stormtroopers destroyed the Trandoshan nest we picked up these images from orbital observation satellites."

The holoterminal threw up the shimmering images of boxy, angular ships made of some kind of rough durasteel. The ship's glowing red engines lit up space around them as they sluggishly made their way toward the planet's surface.

"The Empire sent TIE fighters to investigate these ships, but the ships opened fire on the fighters with heavy projectile cannons and destroyed them. They shook off all their attackers and penetrated the planet's atmosphere before a local Star Destroyer could move to join the investigation."

Vhetin leaned forward, resting his palms against the sides of the holoterminal as he studied the ships. He narrowed his eyes and asked, "How many were there to begin with?"

"Fifty," Bookworm quickly replied. "We think they were some kind of troop transport at first, but when the lizards deployed from the ships, they started capturing city inhabitants and taking them onboard."

"Slave ships," Jay murmured.

Vhetin nodded. "But slaver troupes usually only have one or two of them in their group. Where did the Trandoshans get their hands on fifty?"

"That's not all," Bookworm interjected. "These ships continued to stream into the planet's atmosphere for the rest of the day. The lizards must have taken thousands of people captive."

"Fierfek," Jay said, a little louder than she meant to. She blushed slightly as both Vhetin and Bookworm stared at her and murmured, "Sorry."

"If there were so many of these ships around," Vhetin said, turning his gaze back to the balding man on the other side of the holoterminals, "where did they go?"

"And where did they take their captives?"

Bookworm shrugged, rubbing at his optical receptors again. "We don't know. Shortly after these ships started landing and deploying Trandoshans, we lost all contact with the _Importunate_ in orbit or any HoloNet satellites."

Vhetin nodded, analyzing that information. It wasn't that different from what had happened to the Supercommandos as they hit the ground. He gestured to the terminal and said, "What about the military? How did they deal with this?"

"The local garrison was one of the first targets the lizards hit. That entire area is now completely under Trandoshan control."

"How many troopers?"

"Almost a thousand," Bookworm replied. "They also had support from a company of thirty AT-STs and ten AT-ATs. I think it's safe to assume they were destroyed."

"And that's when the police force stepped up to fight the Trandoshans?" Jay asked.

"Yes. They had a great deal fewer beings at their disposal. About three hundred, and that's including those civilians who stepped up and volunteered to help. They were undermanned, under-equipped, and vastly outnumbered."

"So you took up guerilla fighting tactics?" Vhetin said, gesturing to Bookworm's shabby attire. It looked as if it had been assembled from a mix of riot trooper armor, bolo-ball pads, and simple cot blankets. It was filthy, torn, and stained like all the other police uniforms he'd seen around the base.

Bookworm chuckled slightly. "We've all been asked to lend our services to the aid of the city. Even those of us with no formal combat training."

"You're not a police officer?"

He shook his head. "I am – I _was_ – a librarian."

Vhetin raised an eyebrow, impressed. "So what happened with the police-led counteroffensive?"

"Things were going well," Bookworm explained. "We managed to beat the Trandos out of several areas of the city, including this park. But on the fourth day of fighting, we suddenly lost contact with all other precincts of the city."

Vhetin glanced at Jay, who raised her eyebrows. It was too similar to what had happened with the Mandalorian forces for it to be a coincidence.

"At first," Bookworm continued, "we thought they had been destroyed. But we sent officers to investigate and we found that something was jamming our comm signals."

"So the Trandos do have some kind of jamming equipment?" Vhetin asked.

"We believe so."

"That's actually pretty smart," Jay said. "The Trandos allow their enemies to get set up as if nothing is wrong, then once the enemies are spread out and operating like they normally would the lizards cut them off from each other. That way their enemies are scattered, lost, and have no way of contacting their allies."

"The Trandoshans can communicate with each other," Bookworm said, "but they don't use comlinks. They send messages to each other on those little floating probe droids that accompany their patrols."

"We've encountered those," Vhetin said, remembering the little black droids with their spindly arms.

"Repurposed scavenger droids," Bookworm said. "The lizards have been known to use them, especially for scouting out potential areas ripe for slaving."

"Just to get us back on track here," Jay said, "how are the Trandos able to jam us in the first place? To blanket an entire city with comm scrambling signals you'd need at least a military-grade piece of jamming equipment and some kind of signal amplifier."

"We think they have something bigger than that."

"How so?"

Bookworm tapped into the holoterminal and brought up a map of Tandori. He pointed to the military base, where he'd said the Trandos were dug in the most.

"We think that somewhere in this area," he said, "the Trandoshans have hooked up a high-power, military-grade signal jammer to one of the military comm towers. If they managed to amplify the signal through the tower, they could be jamming the area for hundreds of kilometers in all directions."

"That would explain how they're able to turn it on and off," Jay said, leaning closer and staring at the hologram. "If they need to lift the jamming waves for a time, they just unhook their equipment."

"There are two comm towers in the military base. One by the barracks and one by the base commander's quarters."

"Do you know which one they're using the broadcast their signals?"

"Unfortunately no," Bookworm said with a grimace.

Vhetin narrowed his eyes again, thinking hard. Eventually he said, "What kind of defenses do they have set up?"

"They have six anti-air turrets set up here, here, and here," Bookworm said, gesturing to the indicated areas. "We sent in military drones we found in local Imperial workshops, but they barely made it a hundred meters past the base's perimeter. The Trandoshans have also somehow hacked into the Imperial computer system and repurposed all the base's security measures to suit their needs."

"What are you thinking?" Jay asked Vhetin.

He pointed to the two glowing points that indicated the comm towers. "If we can organize a strike team, we can infiltrate the base and take out those comm towers. With the jammers down, we could finally regroup with the Protectors."

"I don't know how you'd be able to do that," Bookworm said. "Most of the soldiers we have here are volunteers. I don't know how many would willingly sign up for a mission like that."

"How would we go about setting this up?"

Bookworm shrugged. "You could talk to Barrage or Cyclone."

"Cyclone?"

"He's our leader. Anything you're planning is going to have to be run past him eventually. Barrage is his second-in-command."

Jay leaned closer to Vhetin and murmured, "I'm guessing that's the one guy who was yelling at us in a language we didn't understand."

"Where could we find Barrage or Cyclone?"

"Cyclone is usually in the main comm center. He's working with a couple technicians we managed to rescue from a Trandoshan patrol trying to boost our signal power to break through the jamming field. Barrage is usually somewhere near the center hall or the training room. He likes staying near the main group of refugees in case they need anything."

Vhetin glanced at Jay, then said, "Okay. We'll go talk to them."

* * *

**Tandori ConfiBank Building (destroyed)**

Brianna ducked around the corner of a nearby building, holding up a fist to signal the rest of the group to take cover as well. She shouldered her rifle and sighted down the scope at what remained of the ConfiBank Building.

"What do you see?" Norac asked, flexing his grip over his battle-axe in anticipation.

Brianna watched as a patrol of six Trandoshans prowled around the perimeter of the building ruins. Their leader stopped and sniffed at a pile of rubble, then gestured and hissed for them to move on. The tiny probe droid at the head of the group hovered ahead, disappearing around the corner. A few moments later the rest of the patrol followed it.

"Okay," she whispered. "We're clear. Let's head in there before another patrol comes through."

"How much time do we have?" Beten asked. She brushed a strand of blond hair out of her eyes, tucking it under a headband she had wrapped around her forehead.

"About ten minutes. Let's move."

They quickly crept across the street, wary of another patrol. Brianna, being the only one with a rifle, took point. She sprinted from the corner out to cover behind a chunk of building that had fallen to the street during the explosion.

She ducked down behind the rubble and gestured for the rest of the Berserkers. Norac and Beten sprinted forward, two other Berserkers right behind them. The hulking form of Droun brought up the rear.

"Where are the Trandos?" he grunted, struggling to hide his bulk behind the chunk of rubble. "I'm waitin' to crack some skulls."

"Not yet," Brianna said. "Just let me look around for some sign of Cin or Jay. Then you can crack as many skulls as you want. Deal?"

"We've got ten minutes until the patrol gets back. You get five minutes to look for your evidence."

She nodded and set off at a cautious crouch toward what used to be the front doors to the bank. She heard Norac ordering two Berserkers to cover her. She frowned, but let them join her in her search.

"So what exactly are you looking for?" Beten asked, nudging at a rock with the shaft of her trident.

"I'm looking for what's left of the building security recorder. Those things are built to last. I'm betting it survived the explosion and if we can find it I can download the full footage from all the building's cams."

"What's it look like?"

"A black box about the size of your head. It should have a bunch of cables and wires poking out of the bottom."

"What if it's under that mess?" the other Berserker, Vander, said. He gestured to a pile of collapsed debris. The chunks of building were at least three times as large as the destroyed speeders on the street.

"It won't be," Brianna said, grunting as she lifted a large piece of rubble and tossing it aside. "The cam box is mounted on the side of the building near the electrical power supply. It should be around here somewhere."

They searched for a few more minutes. She was uncomfortably aware that her time was quickly running out.

Finally, Beten called, "Got it!" and Brianna was almost instantly at her side. The Berserker woman gestured to a dinged and battered black box partially buried under a mound of tile shards and rough duracrete debris. Brianna knelt and carefully brushed the rubble away from the box.

"That it?"

She nodded, turning the large box over in her hands. She picked out the transfer cables and unclipped a handheld holoprojector from her belt.

"Now if the box isn't too damaged," she murmured as she plugged the transfer cables into the holoprojector, "I should be able to..."

A bright blue hologram sprang to life in front of her and she let out a long breath in relief. _Good_, she thought, _now if I can just find the right camera..._

She switched to the internal cam view of the top floor vault, where Trayc Ramser had said he had been pinned down. He'd said that was where Cin and Jay had rescued him.

It was only a short time before she found the footage she was looking for. She turned down the projector's volume and watched intently as Cin's armored form clambered up out of what looked like a ventilation grate. There were unconscious or dead Trandoshans scattered around the room.

"_Cin?"_ the holographic image of Jay asked.

Hologram Vhetin clambered up out of the grate and brushed his armor plates off. "_Change of plan_," he said. "_The Trandos are planning to blow the building._ _We need to get out of here now._"

Hologram Ramser shook his head. "_No good. If you were the one supplying power to the elevator, we're screwed now_."

_He was supplying power to the turbolift? _Brianna thought. Mandalorian armor wasn't designed for power transfer of that magnitude. If he had been hooked up for too long he would have lost most power to his helmet systems.

"_We don't have a choice_," Hologram Cin said. "_The Trandos from the sixth floor are evacuating. They're still making their way through the atrium. That exit is blocked_."

She watched as they debated over what to do. Eventually they turned their jetpack rockets against the far wall. When the resulting explosion did little more than carve a crater out of the hardened duracrete, Vhetin used his lightsaber to slice open an aperture in the wall.

As Brianna watched, the unconscious Trandos around the room slowly woke and began firing at her friends. Ramser left first, jumping out of the hole in the wall and using his jetpack to slow his descent to the ground.

"_How much time left_?" Hologram Jay asked. She raised a Trandoshan shotgun and fired at the lizards.

"_Thirty seconds_," Hologram Cin said.

"_Go then. I'll distract the Trandos long enough for you to get free_."

"_What_?"

"_I don't have a jetpack_," she said. "_I'd just slow you down_."

Hologram Vhetin fired his rifle into an onrushing Trando's face. "_I'm not leaving you here_."

"_You have to. Either you get out of here or we both die_."

_Come on you two, _Brianna thought with gritted teeth. _Get out of there. Show me that you made it out okay. _

Her heart was pounding as she watched Hologram Cin take a step toward the hole in the wall, as if thinking about retreating and leaving Jay to her fate. Then he erupted in a blur of motion and Hologram Jay shouted, "_What the hell are you_-"

The recording suddenly cut out, probably ended by the building exploding. Brianna stared at the now-dark holoprojector and thought, _So did they make it out? Were they too late?_

Then she sighed and let her shoulders slump. There still wasn't any proof that her boyfriend or his partner had made it out alive. Beten, who had been watching over her shoulder, simply said, "Hm. So what now?"

Norac and Droun were still behind cover. The Berserker leader was gesturing furiously for Brianna to get back into hiding. She stared at him, then shook his head. She saw him mouth a very rude curse at her.

She didn't pay him any mind, instead gesturing for Beten and Vander to follow her. She made her way around the corner of the building, staring up at where Cin's hastily made escape route would have been if the bank was still standing. She eventually pointed up.

"There," she murmured. "That's where they were. Which means if they made it out they would have fallen somewhere in this area."

"And splattered themselves all over the sidewalk," Vander pitched in unhelpfully. He shrugged and began rooting around the rubble at his feet.

She ignored the man and instead thought hard about where she could find her next lead. If the damn comms had been working it would just be a simple matter of calling Jaing and asking him to hack into the city's traffic cam system and review footage. But it looked like she would have to get her hands dirty for this one.

She turned and stomped down hard on Vander's hand, mashing it against a large chunk of debris. The man shouted in pain and yanked his hand out from under her heavy combat boot, cradling it against his chest.

"You _aruetii _bitch!" he snapped. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Brianna didn't answer and instead shouldered her rifle. From around the corner she heard reptilian voices hissing at each other.

"What wass that? Did ssomeone just sshout?"

"Let'ss invesstigate."

Brianna motioned for Beten and Vander – who was still cursing at her – to form up. She leaned close to them and said, "Now listen to me carefully. I want this patrol alive. Don't kill any of them."

"Why?" Beten asked.

"Because if they're dead," she said patiently as she switched her rifle over to stun, "they won't be able to tell me what happened to Cin and Jay after the building exploded. Get ready."

A Trandoshan stuck its snout around the corner and Brianna kicked out with her heavy combat boot. The alien went sprawling and she threw herself around the corner. She opened up with her rifle, sending blue-white rings of light exploding from her blaster barrel.

Trandoshans leaped out of the way, diving behind cover. Beten cursed and sprinted forward, whipping her trident across a lizard's face and knocking it unconscious.

Brianna quickly counted off; there were three more Trandoshans, plus a tiny probe droid. As she watched, the little droid splayed out its razor-sharp appendages and flew straight at Vander's face. The Berserker screamed as the little scavenger drone scratched and stabbed at the unprotected skin of his face and neck.

"Get it off me!" he shouted, frantically trying to pull the droid off his face. "Get it off-"

He slumped, struggling weakly. Beten slammed her weapon across another Trando's face before moving to help him. She grabbed the droid and yanked on it. Vander's scream increased pitch by several octaves before the probe came loose with a metallic screech.

"Oh damn it," the woman cursed when the droid turned its sharp appendages toward her own face. She threw the droid away and ground the shaft of her trident into its underbelly. The droid's casing caved in with a loud _crunch_.

Brianna dropped two more Trandoshans with stun bolts. The final alien roared at her and leaped forward, knocking her rifle from her hands with a slash from one of its long daggers. She backpedaled and spun out of the lizard's reach.

It roared at her and sprinted forward. She anticipated this move and did a full backflip. She kicked out with her heavy boots, knocking the daggers from the Trando's leathery hands. She flipped back to her feet and tackled her opponent, driving them both into the rubble-strewn ground. She rose to her hands and knees and grabbed its throat. She tightened her grip and slammed its head into the ground.

"You were here when the building blew up?" she snapped, scowling deeply.

"Yess."

"Tell me what you saw."

The Trandoshan didn't reply. She slammed its head into the ground again and snapped, "Tell me!"

"There wass an explosion and the building collapssed."

"Were there any survivors?"

The alien licked its leathery lips and snarled, "Why would I tell you that?"

She drew one of her pistols and pressed it to the Trando's pudgy stomach. "If you don't tell me I'll put a round through your stomach. You'll bleed to death. Slowly."

The lizard's yellow eyes widened in fear. Then it said, "There... were two enemiess. A Mandalorian and hiss human friend. A female."

"Where did they go? Did they survive the explosion?"

It nodded. "The Mandalorian wass unconsciouss or dead. The female fought uss off and esscaped. She took the male with her."

"Where did they go?"

The lizard shifted and pointed. "That way."

Brianna stared in that direction, then narrowed her eyes. Then she looked down at the lizard and pulled the trigger of her pistol. The lizard spasmed as the stun bolt sent electricity coursing through its system. After a few moments it went limp.

Brianna slowly stood, scooping up her fallen rifle. She turned to Beten, who was kneeling over Vander's limp form.

"How is he?"

She shook her head sadly. "He's gone. That damn scav droid sliced him open like he was made of tissue paper."

She put her hand over the dead man's eyes, closing his eyelids and murmuring, "_Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum. _Your sacrifice was not in vain, _vod_."

Brianna gave the woman a few moments of respectful silence, then said, "We'd better move. Norac won't be happy to hear we engaged an enemy patrol without him."

Beten nodded, eyes still closed. She slowly stood and transferred her trident from one hand to the other. "Lead the way," she sighed. "I'm anxious to pay some Trandos back for this."

Brianna wasn't surprised to find Norac waiting for them with an expression so furious she believed that he was actually going to attack her. She adjusted her grip on her rifle just in case and said, "I found a lead to Cin's whereabouts. He and Jay headed toward the residential quadrant."

Norac moved before she could bring her rifle to bear on him. He stepped forward, grabbed the front of her armor, and in the blink of an eye had her pinned up against the large chunk of rubble. She cried out in surprise but quickly fell silent when she felt the cold metal of his battle-axe blade pressed against her throat.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're playin' at, _aruetii_?" he hissed in her ear, his livid face only inches from hers. "Are you tryin' to get us all killed?"

She fidgeted uncomfortably. "I'm trying to find Cin."

"You're actin' like some _shebs_head kid who's lost her favorite toy. Your little stunt back there killed one of my _vode_."

"I didn't mean for him to-"

She broke off as he pressed the blade harder against her throat. He stared at her with blazing eyes before snarling, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you now."

"I... I don't have one," she said. "But you agreed to come along with me. You knew it would be dangerous. And it's not going to miraculously change into a weekend picnic if you kill me."

He narrowed his eyes. Brianna thought for a moment that he was actually going to slice her throat open. Then Droun spoke up in his deep booming voice.

"Norac," he growled. "Trando patrol incoming."

The Berserker leader tore his gaze away from Brianna and looked in the direction his huge companion was pointing. Sure enough, another Trandoshan patrol had found the results of Brianna's fight and were scouting the area for the culprits.

"We need to move now if we're going to stay hidden," Droun boomed, his gaze following a tiny scavenger droid as it hovered around the area.

Norac turned his furious gaze back to Brianna and flexed his grip on the shaft of his axe. Then he spat out a curse and released her. Brianna almost sprawled forward onto her face. She staggered for a moment before regaining her balance, rubbing her throat.

Norac was still angry. He raised his axe and pointed it at her menacingly.

"Consider yourself warned, _aruetii_," he snapped. "Now... where did your idiot boyfriend go?"

She gestured further up the street and Norac motioned for them to move out.

_Screw the Trandos_, she thought as she followed the small group of Berserkers. _I'm going to be killed by these guys before the day is out._

* * *

**Tandori Police HQ**

Barrage listened to Vhetin's plan in silence, save for when he had to translate for Cyclone.

The leader of the police forces was tall and bald with a pair of heavy welding goggles pushed up his forehead. His head was shaved bald and he had old bloodstains – both Trandoshan and human – spattered on his skull. Dark fatigue circles framed his green eyes, as if he hadn't gotten much sleep over the past few weeks.

He didn't speak often. When he did, it was in a fast, complex language that Jay had never heard before.

"So if Team B can infiltrate the main armory," Vhetin said, pointing to the indicated building on the holographic map in front of them, "and create some kind of distraction, that should draw the Trando's attention long enough for Team A to punch through to the comm towers."

"What kind of distraction?" Barrage said, speaking for the first time since the conversation started.

"I don't know," Vhetin said, "set some detonators and blow the place up. Hole up there and hold of the Trandos that are bound to come and investigate."

"I don't know what you think we're packing in this building, but we're not exactly a military outpost."

"If Team B can get into the armory they can get their hands on all the ammo they need."

Cyclone gestured to the map and spoke in his strange language. Barrage listened intently for a few moments, then translated, "He says that the military base has too many defenses for our officers to infiltrate. We'd need more firepower than we have."

Vhetin fell silent, staring at the map intently. Jay glanced between him and Cyclone, then said, "Vhetin and I can fix that."

"You can?" Barrage asked.

"We can?" Vhetin echoed.

"We can," she stepped forward and gestured to the map. "Vhetin and I can sneak in and get to the main control center here. We can take the security defenses offline in time for you to guys to get in."

"I think you're overselling our infiltration skills," Vhetin said. "This place is crawling with Trandoshans."

"You managed to get into Kassh's base back on Tatooine," she pointed out.

"That was on a much smaller scale."

"It's the same principle."

"But-"

"I've never known you to back down from a challenge," she said. "In fact, I remember you being the one who usually proposed these high-risk operations in the past."

"This is a different situation," Vhetin said. "I can assure you that I've never proposed that we try to infiltrate a repurposed military base crawling with enemies with no intel or backup."

Jay frowned, staring at the hologram. Then she slowly smiled and stepped up to the holoterminal's keyboard. The holographic map sputtered out as she began quickly typing commands.

A few moments later the hologram of one of the Trandoshan's miniature scavenger droids sprang to life in mid-air.

"There," she said, gesturing to the hologram in triumph. "This little guy is our way in. If we can catch one and override its programming, we can use it as a kind of remote cam droid."

She glanced at Vhetin. "If we can pull this off, the droid will supply all the intel we need."

He narrowed his eyes and leaned forward, studying the droid closely. "Jay…"

"Would it work?"

"In theory. But we have no idea what kind of security these things have installed."

"They're scaled-down probe droids. How tough could their security be?"

Barrage rubbed his stubbly chin before leaning over and translating for Cyclone. The police leader and his second-in-command muttered unintelligible words back and forth between themselves.

Barrage eventually nodded and said, "Cyclone says that if you can take the security systems offline he'd be willing to try mobilizing an attack force."

"What about you, Cin? Do you think you can crack the security on the drones?"

He narrowed his eyes as he studied the hologram. "I'm no Jaing Skirata, but if we can get ahold of one of those scavs I could try cracking the Trando's security."

"So you'll do it?"

He sighed. "Jay, I have no faith in this plan. But I don't see any other alternative."

She grinned and said, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get ready."

Cyclone nodded and said something in his mysterious language. Barrage nodded in agreement and said, "We'll see if we can get some volunteers together for an attack group. I can think of several officers who would be more than happy to get some payback for everything the Trandos have done to them."

Together, the four stepped away from the holoterminal and made their way out into the hallway beyond.

"Here," Vhetin said and tossed a comlink to Barrage. "This comlink is programmed with the comm number of a member of our army. As soon as you receive confirmation that the jammer towers are down, have Bookworm use this to contact them and brief them on the situation. If I know them - and I do - they will mobilize almost the entire attack force to assist you."

Barrage nodded as they stepped up to a T-junction at the end of the hall and growled, "I'll get right on that."

They parted ways there, with Barrage and Cyclone heading deeper into the facility while Jay and Vhetin headed for the doors outside. Vhetin unclipped his rifle from his belt and scanned the small grassy area outside for enemy contacts. There were three or four police militiamen in their ratty disguises scattered around the area, keeping the building perimeter secure.

Now that she knew where to look, Jay found it hard to believe that she and Vhetin had missed the troopers in the first place. Though it was true that the officer's ragged hoods and armored tunics blended almost perfectly with the surrounding foliage, especially with the rock monument outside the front doors, she saw that their camouflage was rather obvious now that she'd seen the officers up close.

Jay glanced over her shoulder at the retreating figures of Barrage and Cyclone. "That comlink you just gave Barrage... wasn't that the one Brianna gave to you?"

Vhetin nodded and she said, "Won't she be upset when someone finally calls her and it isn't you?"

"That's the only comlink I have programmed with the comm number of a Protector I'd trust with my life. I can count on Brianna to act accordingly if she gets the message that we need help."

"Oh," Jay said. That made sense. The bounty huntress was indeed one of the most reliable beings she knew and Jay knew she would do anything in her power to help them, especially if Vhetin was in danger.

"So you really think this plan will work?" Vhetin asked as they moved into the perimeter guard's line of fire. The officers stared at them indifferently and let them pass.

"I do," she said. "It's a good, cautious plan."

"In theory," he said. "In execution, we don't know what will happen."

"We never know what will happen," she said. "That's the point of planning these things out."

He fell silent for a moment. "I have to give you that."

"We'll be fine," Jay said. "We're up against a horde of _lizards_. How difficult could sneaking past them be?"

"Pretty difficult," he said, "considering that there are hundreds of them. No matter how stupid they are, they're dangerous in numbers of that magnitude."

"We can get past them," she said. "And if we can ambush a Trando patrol and get ahold of one of those scav droids it'll just increase our chances."

"You sound pretty confident. Usually you're the cautious one."

"That should just tell you how sure I am that we can do this."

"I hope you're right," he murmured.

She glanced at him, noticing an edge to his voice. She hesitated, then said, "I'm sure Brianna's doing everything she can to find you. I don't even factor into the equation; if I know her she won't even rest until she finds the slightest sign that you're okay."

He nodded. "I know. I just hope she doesn't hurt herself trying to find us."

"She's a very dedicated woman," Jay said. "She'll be fine."

* * *

Brianna shouted, "Cover!" and ducked as an explosion shook the street beneath her. She was thrown off her feet by the shockwave and she covered her head as tiny, hot chips of duracrete pattered down around her.

Beten shook debris out of her blond hair and cursed. "Damn those rockets."

Norac jumped up on top of a speeder and raised his shield. Projectile bullets ricocheted off its _beskar_ surface. The Trando Elite firing at them roared and continued to spray the street with bullet fire. The Berserker Brianna didn't recognize poked his head out, raising his rifle to fire. He was knocked flat on his back by a storm of projectile bullets. Droun cursed and moved to help her fallen companion.

"_Aruetii_!" Norac shouted. "Move up and take this _chakaar_ down!"

Brianna scrambled to her feet and peeked over the hood of a destroyed speeder. She sighted down her rifle and squeezed off three precise shots that did little more than scorch the surface of the Elite's armor. The alien snarled and began to turn its repeater on her. Brianna waited half a heartbeat, until the Elite was fully facing her, then fired twice. The red blaster bolts that erupted from her rifle slammed into the Trando's forehead. The huge lizard stiffened before crumpling to the ground.

The two other Trandoshan Minors that had accompanied the huge Elite stared at its dead body in shock. Then they turned and scurried away as fast as their stubby legs could carry them.

Norac screamed a defiant war cry at their retreating forms and lowered his axe and shield. Beten and Droun, however, were not satisfied at that. The two took off down the street after the Trandos, their eyes blazing.

Norac watched them go, breathing hard, then turned to Brianna with the hint of a sneer on his face.

"Nice shot," he grudgingly said.

"Thanks," she replied, shaking a strand of hair out of her face. She brushed ash off her heavy neck guard as Norac slung his shield over his shoulders like a large round backpack.

"So where did you say your _cyar'ika_ ran off to?"

"Well," Brianna said, surveying the street, "that Trando we caught said that Cin was knocked unconscious from the impact of falling out of the building. If Jay managed to carry him away from the battle, she would have also been taking fire by whatever Trandos were still around."

She narrowed her eyes. "So she was lost, taking fire, and had a wounded partner. She would have tried to find the closest building that would serve as safe cover."

She pointed to an abandoned apartment building across the street. "Let's start there. It's a good distance from the ConfiBank building, easily defendable."

Norac nodded. "Fine. You go and I'll stay here and wait for my soldiers to get back."

She nodded and took off at a jog. She hopped over a speeder hood and thought, _Fierfek I hope I'm right. Please let Cin or Jay be here._

She slowed as she neared the front doors of the apartment, which were standing wide open. She raised her rifle and cautiously stepped inside.

There were no obvious signs of activity, Trandoshan or Human. It looked like the front lobby had been looted; the front desk was a mess and there were credit chips carelessly tossed across the floor. There was a bulletin board with graffiti across its surface on one wall.

She quickly cleared the room and found a stairway leading to the upper levels of the building. There was also a turbolift but Brianna passed it by; the power was on in the building, but she wasn't going to risk the lift malfunctioning.

On the second floor she found a door that was thrown wide. A quick perusal of the interior showed that the apartment room's former occupant must have been a Clone Wars-era military fanatic. The tenant had stockpiled a vast collection of Republic military weapons.

But that wasn't what caught Brianna's attention. The weapons looked as if they had been painstakingly organized in glass cases around the room. There were old weapon's lockers stacked up against the walls. Several of the glass cases, however, had been smashed open and the weapons within were missing. A number of weapon lockers were also gone.

_Trandoshans wouldn't be concerned about weapons,_ she thought, stepping closer and studying one of the broken cases. _They have plenty of firepower to sustain them. But a wounded, lost pair of mercenaries would be a different story._

She looked down at the once-fuzzy carpet and saw that there were flattened sections of carpet. It almost looked as if the lockers had been dragged out of the room.

_There we go_, she thought. She followed the trail out of the room and toward the stairs. It led her up two more levels to the top floor, where it disappeared into one of the apartments. She pushed open the door, snapping her rifle up as she stepped into the apartment.

The apartment looked mostly undisturbed, except for the pile of weapon crates piled up in the center of the room and the old DC longrifles propped against one wall.

_Bingo_, she thought. _This definitely looks like a mercenary hideout._

When she opened the door of one of the small bedrooms that joined to the central room, she saw that both the two cots that were built into the walls had their sheets ruffled and disturbed. One of them had the very distinct stains of old blood.

She felt the slightest surge of adrenaline. Whose blood was that? Cin's or Jay's? And if one of them was wounded badly enough that they were bleeding, were they even still alive?

_Calm down,_ she thought, taking a deep breath. _If one of them were dead the body would still be here. The niceties of burial usually come after the war is over._

So where were they? Had they come under attack and had to fall back to a different location? Had they been captured?

She took another step into the room. Her boot nudged something on the floor and she looked down with a curious frown. Lying on the floor was a palm-sized transmitter beacon, its readout slowly pulsing blue.

She knelt and slowly picked up the beacon, turning it over in her hands. She slowly unbuckled one of the pouches on her belt and pulled out an identical beacon. She compared the two for a few moments.

_This is definitely a Protectors-issue piece of tech,_ she thought, tucking her own beacon back into its allotted belt pouch. _But why is it here?_

She knew Cin's style; if he was heading out into hostile territory with no comms and no connection to local HoloNet databases, he'd manually tag safe zones with a beacon so his short-range HUD sensors could pick them up. It was standard Supercommando training.

Fortunately, the beacons worked more than one way. Cin's helmet sensors could pick up the transmissions from the beacon, but each beacon was specifically coded to a single Mandalorian's helmet. Brianna could use that signal to track its broadcast back to him.

She unclipped her datapad from her belt and carefully hooked a transfer cable into the beacon's housing. Her pad lit up, showing a _SCANNING_ message for a moment. Then it provided her with a map of the city that Jaing had downloaded from the spaceport database. The map displayed a pulsing red dot in the upper left corner; the rough direction that, if followed long enough, would lead her right to Cin.

She allowed herself the slightest of grins and thought, _We have another lead. I'd better get back downstairs and tell Norac where we're headed._

She found the Berserker leader standing just outside the apartment door, talking with Beten and Droun.

"-they ran like a couple of whipped nerfs," Beten was laughing. "Stupid lizards."

"Did you kill them?"

"Of course," Droun boomed. "Vander and Dom didn't die so we could wander through the city without so much as seeing some Trandoshan blood."

"Good," Norac said, nodding. "If we meet any other Trandoshans along our way, make sure to show 'em the same courtesy."

"Hey," Brianna interrupted as she drew near them. "I found a lead. I've managed to track Cin's helmet scanner signal to a location north of here."

"Lead the way," Norac grumbled. He hefted his axe onto his shoulder and followed behind her as she set off down the street.

She consulted her datapad as they reached the corner, then turned right and stepped cautiously down the street. They were definitely in enemy territory now; this area of the city hadn't been cleared by the Protectors. Their recent fight with enemy forces further proved that theory.

"So," Beten said, jogging up to fall into step next to Brianna, "you still think your boyfriend is alive?"

"I do."

"Why? For all you know he was killed after he fell out of that bank building."

"I just know that he's all right," she said with a shrug. "He's… I don't know, he's always seemed indestructible."

"Yeah, well the so-called 'indestructible' soldiers are usually the first ones to die."

"Lay off, Beten," Brianna sighed. "I'm not in the mood for your bad attitude."

"If you're so sure that he's alive, answer me this; why hasn't he contacted you?"

"Our communications network is down. It's probably being jammed by the Trandoshans."

"No, but if he knows you would look for him why would he not leave you a message of some type? Like a message in that fancy hologram whatchamacallit."

Brianna hesitated. The woman, malicious and hostile as she was, did have a point. Why would Cin not try and leave her a message? He knew she would come looking for him no matter what… right?

To tell the truth, she wouldn't be surprised if he had consciously decided not to try and contact her. He had been a caring and considerate boyfriend in the past, but in the past months he had felt distant and cold. She remembered the time he'd accepted a Level-10 bounty on a Barabel mercenary and hadn't even bothered to comm and tell her he was gone. She hadn't let it show at the time, but she had been deeply hurt that he had accepted such a dangerous assignment without so much as asking her what she thought about it.

But he cared about her. He cared about her enough that he would know she was worried about him and would do anything she could to try and find him again. So why would he just disappear without so much as leaving a message in case she picked up his trail?

Beten seemed to read her mind. "I'm no expert," she said, "but it seems to me like he doesn't really care."

"He's done this before," Brianna said. "I'm worried, but not surprised. Besides, he's always come out fine."

"He's done what before? Vanished on you while wounded and lost and left you wondering whether he was even alive?"

She hesitated. "Yes."

The other woman snorted. "I'm surprised you still put up with his _osik_. All he seems to do is keep you worried."

"He needs me," she said. "For… reasons that would take too long to explain. He needs someone to turn to and confide in and if I'm not there for him who will be?"

Beten chuckled. "And what do you get out of this relationship? What does he do for you?"

"He…" she began. Then she abruptly closed her mouth and frowned.

She couldn't think of anything. She shook her head and thought, _Come on, there must be something. _

She eventually scowled and simply said, "He's always been there for me."

Beten chuckled again and fell silent. She slowed her pace, falling back to regroup with the rest of the Berserkers, and left Brianna to consult her datapad map in silence.

_Damn that woman_, she thought with a scowl. _Putting me on the spot like that. I can't believe I let her get the better of me._

Still, it disturbed her that she hadn't been able to think of anything Cin did for her. Was their relationship that one-sided, that she helped and comforted Cin when he needed it, but he did nothing but ignore her and take her for granted?

More often than not, she longed for a relationship like Rame and Mia had; a bond that was loving and caring from both participants. But would she trade the relationship she had for that? She and Cin shared something special, a bond that couldn't be put into words.

Didn't they?

Beten's questions were getting to her. A small, guilty part of her actually agreed with what the Berserker woman had said. Cin took, took, took and she did nothing but give, give, give. And had she ever asked for anything in return, ever tried to get something out of the relationship herself? No, because she was always too caught up in his damn problems. Was it too much to ask for him to show the slightest sign of consideration for _her_ feelings?

She shook her head as they turned down another street. She resolutely decided that once she found him she would talk to him about it.

_And if he has a problem with what I have to say_, she thought darkly, _we may need to reevaluate where we are in this relationship._

_And for how much longer I'm willing to put up with it._

* * *

Vhetin knelt on the edge of the rooftop, watching the Trandoshan patrol pass beneath him. He narrowed his eyes and murmured, "You ready, Jay?"

She was lying on her stomach, her rifle tucked into her shoulder. She glanced at him and nodded. "Just try not to tear your stitches out. You already wounded yourself jumping off a building once already. It would be stupid of you to do it again."

He nodded. "So what's the plan? Run me through it once more."

"Simple; get down there, neutralize the Trandoshans, and grab that little scav droid that's floating around in front of them. I'll try to cover you from here."

He nodded and unclipped a lightsaber from his belt. He activated the weapon and the blue blade sprang to life with a _snap-hiss_.

"How long do we have before the next patrol comes through?"

Jay consulted the chronometer on her light armor gauntlet. "If they stick to the pattern they've been using for the past half hour… fifteen minutes. You'll need to get out of there with the droid in seven. Ten at most."

He nodded. It would be difficult, especially considering that there was a massive Trandoshan Elite lumbering along with the patrol, but he didn't think it was impossible. Getting a handle on the swift little scavenger droid was going to be the real challenge. The droid was outfitted with razor-sharp probe arms and had a little drill mounted under its main housing. The drill was supposed to be used for prying apart scrap metal, but could easily bore through his skull if he wasn't careful.

_What's the alternative?_ he thought. _We need that scav droid if we're going to get into the military base._

He let out a quiet sigh. This was crazy, but it was what he needed to do.

"I'll see you in a few minutes," he said, then jumped forward off the edge of the building.

He fell almost fifty feet, plummeting down through the air. He couldn't use his jetpack and risk alerting the Trandos beneath him. So he instead aimed for one of the lizardlike aliens beneath him and prayed it didn't move before he landed. He would probably survive the fall due to his better-than-average physical traits, but it would undoubtedly break both his legs.

He ploughed into one of the Trando Minors from above, slamming it into the ground with the force of a falling ammunition crate. He somersaulted forward to shed momentum, leaving the Trando groaning on the duracrete pavement behind him, and slashed upward with his lightsaber as he came to his feet. A lanky Trandoshan Hunter crumpled with a red-hot gash in its chest.

The Elite turned and roared in surprise and rage, hefting its huge repeated. Vhetin dashed forward, swiping down with his glowing weapon and severing the barrel. He spun and stabbed with his saber, ramming it into the Elite's stomach.

The alien bellowed in pain and dropped its weapon. With a furious snarl it grabbed Vhetin by the head and lifted him bodily into the air. His lightsaber was yanked from his grasp and it deactivated with a synthesized hiss, the hilt clattering away across the pavement.

The Elite roared, blasting his masked face with hot, stinking breath. The alien slammed its huge fist into his armored stomach twice, knocking the breath out of him. It then hefted him higher into the air and slammed him into the wall beside them with enough force to crack the duracrete.

He coughed and let out a shout, trying to pry the alien's thick fingers off his head. The Trandoshan roared at him again and drew a large vibrosword off its back. The vibrating blade lit up with an electric buzz and a greenish glow. It raised the weapon, preparing to ram him through the stomach.

A bright red blaster bolt flashed down from the sky, slamming into its collarbone. It released Vhetin, more out of surprise than anything, and staggered back. He looked up in time to see three more bolts tear into the creature's chest. It fell to its knees, clutching at its wounds.

Vhetin quickly scooped up his fallen saber and activated it, running forward and slashing down across the Elite's chest. When the alien still didn't fall he slashed twice more in a quick up-and-down motion, then stabbed it again through the chest.

The Trando still didn't fall. Vhetin moved forward and kicked out with a heavy boot at its chest and it caught his foot with a huge hand. It yanked up, knocking him off his feet. He fell onto his back with a grunt as the Trandoshan struggled to its feet again.

Jay fired more blaster shots from her perch on top of the building, but the huge alien just shrugged them off. Vhetin scrambled back as it lashed out at him with its glowing green vibroblade. The blade carved out a two-foot section of duracrete he had occupied just a moment before.

He scrambled to his feet, sprinting forward and knocked the Trando back with a double-boot kick to the chest. He fell to the ground again, but quickly flipped back to his feet. Before the Elite could stand again he punched it twice in its leathery snout and drove his armored knee plate into its throat. The alien let out a gurgle, clutching at its throat as it fell back.

Vhetin grabbed his lightsaber and activated it again. Spinning the blade around, he stabbed down. The energy blade carved through the Trandoshan's chest armor like it was made of tissue paper and plunged into its chest. It let out one last gasp and fell limp.

His gaze snapped up and he saw a flash of dark gray. Then he was knocked off his feet as the tiny scav droid rammed itself into his face, slicing open his facemask with its razor-sharp appendages. He brought his arms up and tried to pry the flailing robot off of him and it let out a metallic screech and tried to plunge its mounted drill into his face. He succeeded in pulling it away just before the drill hit his skin.

The little droid floated away and bobbed in mid-air, warbling and beeping at him. He struggled to his feet and lunged at it, using his _beskar_ gauntlets to block most of the slashes to his face and neck. He reached through the forest of razor-sharp droid legs and grabbed the drill by its housing. He ripped it free with a grunt of effort that was quickly followed by the scav droid's metallic scream.

Vhetin grabbed the little droid by two razor-bladed robotic arms and slammed it against the wall. It struggled furiously until he slapped a restraining bolt on its housing. A shiver almost instantly ran through its metallic body and its multiple appendages hung limp.

"Okay," he murmured to himself, "clock's ticking."

He pried open the small access hatch on the droid's housing and reached inside. He was looking for a specific wire, the one supplying power to the droid's signal receiver. It should be thick and contoured with small rings around it…

_There_. He grabbed the wire and tugged it, pulling it free of its socket. Once done, he reached into a belt pouch and drew out a remote transmitter. It was a tiny gray box with an identical ringed wire protruding from it. He slid it into the scav's metallic body and plugged the wire into the old signal receiver socket.

_Good,_ he thought. _Now it's cut off from receiving anything but our own orders. Now…_

He reached into the droid again and felt around until he found a small anvil-shaped microchip that was the scav's behavioral modifier. With the chip disabled, the droid wouldn't be able to run diagnostics on its own internal programs.

He didn't try anything fancy; he just yanked the chip out, snapping it in half in the process. He tossed the fragments to the duracrete next to him.

Now for the last step. He pulled a small holocamera out of his belt pouch and attached it to the twisted remains of the droid's rotating drill. When the scav's arms started working again, they would drape around the drill and disguise the cam while providing them with a good droid's-eye view of the base.

He hooked a power supply cable to the input socket on the droid's belly, then stepped back and let the droid hover into the air again. He looked up the building's roof and gave Jay a thumb's-up. She made the same gesture and crawled back from the edge of the building, out of sight.

Vhetin watched the droid hover in mid-air in front of him, then switched on his datapad and activated the droid's central programming to order it to return to base. The scav floated where it was for a moment, then bobbed off around the corner.

He watched it go, then triggered his jetpack and rocketed back up to the rooftop. He guided himself over the lip of the roof, then landed in a wash of flame as his pack cut out.

Jay winced and held an arm across her face at the flash of fire. As the propulsion jets faded, she cursed and said, "You know that stupid jetpack freaks me out. I don't know how you Mandos are able to hook those death-traps to your back."

"I'm not asking you to wear one," he said, brushing off his shoulder pads. He readjusted his facemask, which had almost been torn to shreds by the scav attack. "I got the droid bugged. We should be able to keep an eye on it for a while. We have to stay fairly close to it to keep the signal from growing too strong and getting jammed by the Trandos."

She nodded and clipped her rifle to her belt. "Let's get going then."

"We'll have to stick to the rooftops," he said. "The streets are crowded with Trando patrols and they'll slow us down."

"Um… in case you haven't noticed, I don't have a jetpack. I can't just fly from roof to roof like you."

"I'll help you," he reassured her. "And we'll stick to rooftops that are fairly close together. If we're lucky, we should be able to set up a few hundred feet from the perimeter of the military base."

"Will that be close enough?"

He nodded and strode toward the rooftop that was nearest to them. It joined up gaplessly to their rooftop and he simply stepped up onto the next building and gestured for her to follow him. "As long as we don't get at least three hundred yards away from the scavenger droid we should be able to keep the signal strength weak enough that it won't be jammed by the Trandoshans."

"How far away is it now?" she asked as she hopped up onto the rooftop next to him.

He consulted his datapad. "About thirty meters to the northwest. Let's move."

The jogged after the scav, jumping rooftop to rooftop and over narrow alleys as they went. Jay stumbled once and almost fell but Vhetin's reflexes kicked in and he caught her before she could plummet to her almost certain death. The rest of their chase passed calmly, with Vhetin checking his datapad every few minutes and Jay scanning for any potential Trandoshan scouts on other rooftops.

"Wait," he finally said about five minutes later. "Hold up. We're at the perimeter of the military base now."

"How can you tell?"

He pointed to a series of smokestacks rising out of the cityscape in front of them. No smoke was rising from the tall cylinders, making them look dead and haunted. "See those? That's the Tandori industrial district. The map we downloaded from the police database shows that it's just north of the military base."

"Okay," Jay said, falling to her knees and raising her rifle. She sighted through its scope for a moment, then frowned and said, "I don't see any security measures."

"Barrage said that most of the base's security is divided among automated turrets mounted around the area, the four anti-air towers, and armed Trandoshan guards. Chances are you won't see them until they're right on top of you."

He knelt next to her and indicated his datapad. "That's why we have this."

He tapped in a code and activated the tiny holocam he'd attached to the droid. His pad screen hissed with static for a moment before showing the shaky, bouncy image feed from the cam.

"There's the main entrance," Vhetin said, pointing to the fuzzy image of a security booth in the upper left corner of the screen.

"I can see at least five turrets just in that area. And how are we going to map all of this?"

He pulled up a separate window on his pad screen and explained, "I'm going to use the scav to map out the military base, just like you suggested. Every time its photoreceptors pick up a turret or patrol it transmits the location to my pad, cross-references it with the map we have, and logs it. If we can get a good look at the perimeter security all the way to the main complex, we can plan our infiltration route."

Jay looked over his shoulder, watching the datapad screen intently as he guided it through the military base. He moved the scav around a corner, guiding it up the front perimeter of the base and pausing every few seconds to let the droid scan the area for any hidden security measures.

Within ten minutes the droid had scouted out the entire perimeter of the base and turned toward the central complex. Vhetin struggled to keep the droid away from Trando patrols, having it hover behind corners for a few moments before moving on.

"There's the control center," Jay said, pointing to the screen. "It looks like there are three turrets mounted nearby."

He nodded. "That means a door breach is out of the question. We'll have to find a secondary entry point."

She narrowed her eyes. "What about there? That looks like a… skylight, maybe?"

'It's probably transparisteel," he said, guiding the scav droid closer. "But a minor det charge would probably take care of that if we can just get closer to the building."

"So what are we looking at?"

He brought the scav to a secluded, hidden area of the base before setting it on standby and switching over to the map. He studied it intently for a long time before murmuring, "It looks like there's a whole interconnected system of turrets."

"Overlapping fields of fire?"

He nodded. "And the only direction they don't look is up."

She sighed. "I told you, I'm not going to wear a damn jetpack."

"I've got a different idea," he said. He sat back on his heels and frowned thoughtfully. Eventually he said, "Have you ever been zip-lining?"

"Zip-lining?" she echoed. "What, like people do on vacations?"

"Yeah."

She stared at him. "You know, I would love to find out just how your brain works. I might finally be able to understand half the stuff you say."

"Look," Vhetin said, zooming in the map on their area. He pointed to a building about half a block to the east. "That's a twenty-story skyscraper that directly overlooks the main collection of buildings. If we can get to the top of that, I can fire a whipcord all the way down to the roof we're trying to reach."

"Does your launcher reach that far?"

"Barely," he said. He looked around the rooftop and quickly found a HoloNet reception antenna. He stood and strode over to it, yanking it up out of the duracrete roof with a tremendous yank. He turned to Jay as he bent the thick antenna in a rough inverted V shape. The metal slowly bent with a tortured groan as it resisted his superhuman strength.

He held it up and shook it slightly. "Like I said: zip-lining."

She stood as well and rested her hands on her hips. "Let me get this straight. You want me to take that piece of junk and slide down a tiny little rope to the roof of a well-guarded military base? Are you completely insane?"

"My whipcord has enough tensile strength to hold someone wearing full _beskar_ battle armor," Vhetin said. "You'll be fine."

"Okay, okay," she said, "let's just pretend I'm willing to go along with this scheme. How are we going to get to the roof of this twenty-story building?"

"If I increase fuel intake to my jetpack," he ventured, "it should be able to carry the weight of two people. It'll eat up fuel pretty quick though, so I don't think I'll be able to use my pack for much longer afterwards."

She let out a short laugh. "First you lose your helmet and head's-up-display, now you're volunteering to use up the last of your jetpack fuel? If you keep this up much longer you won't have any _armor_ by the time we're done here."

"I'm willing to give this contract everything I have to offer," he said. "And this is the only way I can see that we can get into the military base."

She sighed. "I hate to admit it, but I think you're right. So then we blow the skylight, drop down inside, secure the area, and shut down the base's security measures."

He nodded. "Once that's done, the police militia can begin their assault and we can take out the comm towers. Once that's done, we get our comms back and we can hook back up with the Supercommandos."

She nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

He tossed her the remains of the antenna. "How're Barrage and Cyclone doing with their attack force?"

Jay strode to the western edge of the roof and peeked over onto the secluded street below. She waved at the police forces that were gathering below. Someone must have acknowledged her signal because she turned back to Vhetin and said, "They're waiting for our go."

"How many are there?"

"About a hundred and fifty from my perspective, each one dirtier and shabbier than the next. They all look like their armed and ready."

She raised her eyebrows at him and said, "Let's not keep them waiting, huh?"


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Infiltrate

**Trandoshan stronghold, former Imperial military base**

Jay was standing at the base of the twenty-story skyscraper, craning her neck up to see the distant outline of the building's roof. She squinted against the sunlight that streamed down through a break in the clouds, raising a hand to shield her eyes.

"I'm getting this overwhelming urge to tell you to go space yourself," she said. "I'm not going to fly up there."

"Technically," Vhetin said as he made some last-minute calibrations to his jetpack, "I'm the one who's going to be doing all the flying. You'll just be tagging along for the ride."

"I don't want to do this."

He chuckled as he twisted a support screw firmly into place with the small hydrospanner in his hand. "That's just your instinct for self-preservation kicking in. It'll pass in a few minutes."

"No, I mean I really don't want to do this. Can't I just wait down here?"

He glanced up at her, staring at her with his dark blue eyes. "And do what? If I'm up there, you're stranded down here."

"Why can't we take the stairs inside? I'm sure there's some kind of access door to the roof."

"We don't have that much time. We need to get moving soon or Barrage and Cyclone will think we were killed or something."

"Tell you what," she said. "I cleared that room back at the ConfiBank building. It's your turn now."

"Really?" he said, standing fully and slinging his pack over his shoulders. "And what makes you think that?"

"You can head up there on your jetpack, fly down to the security building's roof, breach the building and clear it. I'll stay with the police officers and help with the main assault while you-"

She let out a strangled scream as he suddenly grabbed her around the waist and hugged her close to him. She heard a roaring _thoom_ and they both suddenly rocketed up into the air. She went rigid, knowing better than to struggle against Vhetin's firm grip, and saw windows flashing past her at a blinding speed.

The flight only lasted a few seconds, but it felt to her like a terrified lifetime. The roar of Vhetin's jetpack filled her ears, almost deafening her, and her eyes watered from the sheer velocity of their ascent.

After a few gut-wrenching moments they exploded over the edge of the roof and Vhetin cut power to his pack. They collapsed into a tangle of arms and legs on the rooftop surface and the jetpack shot a few last sparks out of its thrust tubes before dying.

Jay struggled free from Vhetin and staggered to her feet.

"You kriffing _bastard_!" she shouted as he rose to his hands and knees. She stepped closer and kicked him hard in the stomach with her heavy combat boot.

He doubled over and clutched at his stomach before groaning, "What the hell?"

"What did you think you were doing?" she shouted furiously.

He gingerly rose to his feet, still holding his stomach, and said, "You obviously weren't going to go up on your own, so you needed some encouragement."

"What, so you just _grab_ me and _force_ me to fly up here?"

"What, are you afraid of heights?"

She kicked him again, this time in the shin. Thanks to the Supercommando uniform he was wearing, he didn't have shin plates. He cursed and hopped up and down, holding his leg.

"Of _course_ I'm afraid of heights!" she shouted. "That's what I was trying to _tell_ you before you shot me up here!"

He glared at her, his blue eyes flashing. "I was trying to help."

"You failed miserably!"

"Well, we're up here now," he said, rubbing his shin. "That's all that matters."

She made a move to punch him again but he dropped into a combat-ready stance. She hesitated, then scowled and pointed a finger at his chest.

"If you _ever_ do anything like that again…"

He stared at her, then slowly relaxed. "Okay. I'm sorry."

"You'd better be," she muttered, glaring at him. "I would have kicked your ass."

He chuckled darkly and readjusted his tattered black facemask. "In your dreams, Jay."

"I would have," she insisted angrily. "Trust me; I can be a real bitch when I'm mad."

He rubbed his shin again and muttered, "That I believe."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," he sighed. "Let's focus on the task at hand. Are you ready for your part?"

He held out the twisted V-shaped piece of antenna. She grabbed it and shot him one last glare before saying, "Just make sure the line is secure before you send me sliding down the damn thing. How much fuel does your jetpack have left?"

He slipped it off his shoulders and consulted a gauge on one cylindrical fuel pod. "Not much. I think I'll have enough to carry me over to the building once you're over there, but after that the thing is useless."

"Then let's get this over with," she said. He nodded and stepped up to the edge of the roof. He knelt and raised his left arm, making a fist and sighting down his gauntlet.

"Normally I'd have my HUD and helmet rangefinder to help me aim," he murmured, tightening a gloved fist, "so this might take a minute."

He fired the whipcord. The long, flexible wire exploded from his gauntlet housing with a puff of smoke and the wire flashed across the street. A loud buzzing came from his gauntlet as the whipcord unreeled.

The pronged head of the whipcord hit the building across the street and bounced off. Vhetin shook his head and cursed. He pressed a button on the side of his gauntlet and the length of whipcord quickly reeled back into its housing.

It took two more tries before the whipcord embedded itself into the duracrete surface of the building they were aiming for. Vhetin tugged on the line to make sure it was secure, then turned his head to Jay and said, "Okay. Over you go."

She looked at the length of whipcord nervously. "Are you sure this is safe?"

"Like I said, this cord has enough strength to hold a Mando in full battle gear. You'll be fine as long as you hold tight to that antenna."

She hefted the piece of metallic debris. "If I fall I expect you to use the last fuel you have to try and catch me."

He chuckled. "I promise. Now go."

He leaned back against the cord, snapping it taught. Jay let out a deep breath and sat on the edge of the roof, letting her legs dangle over the impossibly long drop. She hooked the V-shaped antenna over the cord and tightened her grip nervously.

"We need to do this, right?"

He nodded. "No other way."

"Right."

"Does that help?"

"No."

Then she slid off the edge into open air. She dropped, hanging by the antenna, and began to slide across the line. Wind rushed past her ears and blew hair into her face. She may have been screaming; she wasn't sure she could hear it over the air rushing past her. She just held on to the remains of the antenna with a death grip.

She slid out over the street, her legs flailing as she struggled to keep her antenna handhold from slipping off the wire. She was aware of the line leading her lower and lower as she approached the roof of the main security building. Only a few moments more…

Vhetin had shot too high. She squinted and saw that the head of the whipcord had embedded itself into the building just behind the target. As such, the line brought her over her target roof while she was still maybe seven feet up.

She gritted her teeth and thought, _Come on. It'll be easier than jumping off the building was. Just let go_.

She tensed her muscles and let go of her handhold. She fell through the air and landed hard enough to send a shock through her legs. She tumbled forward – more on accident than to shed momentum – and rolled to a halt face down on the duracrete. She heard the twisted piece of antenna clatter to the rooftop somewhere nearby. She groaned and pushed hair out of her face, looking around.

She was safe on top of the building and had fallen only a meter away from the transparisteel skylight. She groaned as she pushed herself to her hands and knees, every muscle in her body seeming to scream in protest. She sat back on her knees and wiped blood from her forehead; she had smacked her head pretty hard when she had landed.

A loud roar caught her attention and she looked up to see Vhetin rocketing toward her, twin plumes of flame and smoke erupting from his jetpack. He rolled as well when he flew over the building roof, his pack cutting out with a deafening _thoomp_.

He rolled back to his feet, stumbling only slightly. He adjusted his facemask and popped the bones in his neck.

"Well," he said. "That was fun."

She groaned and let her shoulders slump from exhaustion. "You know, I never had to do anything like this even on our most dangerous assignments."

"I told you that this wasn't going to be like hunting contracts. A lot more is asked of you during Supercommando deployments."

He stepped forward and offered her a hand. She gratefully accepted and let him haul her to her aching feet. "Don't forget," he said, "you volunteered for this, remember? I tried to talk you out of it."

"Yeah," she grudgingly admitted. "One of these days I'm going to learn to shut my karking mouth."

He hesitated, then said, "I'm glad you're here, Jay. And I'd like to thank you for deciding to come along."

She glanced at him, frowning in confusion. "Are you seriously thanking me for signing up to get myself killed?"

He laughed quietly. "No. Well, kind of. I'm just glad to have someone here watching my back. If you weren't here I would be cut off from the Supercommandos and lost all on my own. It's nice to have someone to help."

"Yeah, well they say misery loves company."

"I don't mean it like… never mind."

"I know what you're trying to say," she said. "And I'm kind of flattered."

He nodded, regarding her with an intense blue gaze. Then he jerked his head toward the skylight and said, "What do you say we take out this comm tower so we can go home?"

"After you," she said.

He strode up to the skylight and knelt beside it. He pulled his jetpack off and stared at the fuel gauge, then tossed it aside and muttered, "Well that's shot. We're down one more piece of equipment."

"Hopefully you still have a breach charge."

He reached behind his back and pulled a circular detonator from one of his many belt pouches. "Last one. Let's hope we don't waste it."

He clamped it onto the center of the skylight and tapped in an activation code. Then he gestured for Jay to step back and hit the primer button. He quickly stepped away and turned his head.

The charge detonated with a loud _boom_ and the sound of breaking glass. Jay jerked her gaze away from the bright explosion, looking back to the skylight in time to see Vhetin pull his rifle and jump down through the opening.

She grabbed her own blaster from its clip on her belt and stepped up to the hole in the roof. Without a second thought, she jumped down and plummeted into the room below.

The sound of blasters and shotgun fire almost instantly deafened her. She squinted through the smoke left by the det charge and saw that Vhetin was crouching behind a computer terminal to avoid incoming fire.

She sprinted over to him and ducked behind the terminal. "How many?"

"Three that I can see," he said. He stood and fired three shots before ducking down again. "We need to make this fast so any others in the area don't come and investigate."

She nodded and pulled an hourglass-shaped grenade from her belt. "One Kolta bounty hunting special coming up. I'd cover my ears if I were you."

She depressed the activation button on the top of the grenade, then lobbed it out from behind the holoterminal. She heard it bounce across the smooth floor before she turned her head away and clapped her hands to her ears.

Then there was a blast of white-hot light and an explosion so loud it left her ears ringing. Vhetin shook his head as the roar of the explosion faded, then grunted, "How about next time you count to three. Okay?"

"Wimp," she said with a slight smile. She waited, listening intently. When she didn't hear any sound from the Trandoshans besides groggy moans, she said, "Do you think we got them?"

"I'll check," Vhetin said, standing slowly and sweeping his rifle over the area. "You get to work shutting down the computer systems."

She nodded and jogged over to the largest terminal. She tapped a command into the holographic keyboard and the screen lit up.

The loud _snap_ of blaster fire tore her attention away from the screen. She turned to find Vhetin firing into a stunned Trandoshan's chest. The alien twitched and fell still with a hissing gasp.

He glanced up at her and lowered his rifle. "Sorry," he said. "You'd prefer I cuffed them?"

"Just don't give the lizards outside any more reason to come in here," she said. "Try to keep the blaster fire to a minimum, okay?"

She turned back to the holoscreen in front of her and said, "This shouldn't take long."

* * *

Brianna held up a fist, motioning for her small group to come to a halt. She crouched behind an overturned waste dumpster, the Berserkers fanning out and hiding behind other pieces of debris.

"What do you see?" Droun boomed, hefting his battle hammer.

"There's something up ahead," she whispered, drawing her twin pistols. "I saw shadows around the next corner."

"Could it be from… I don't know, a statue?"

"Maybe," she murmured, "but in a war zone it's best to be cautious."

Norac gestured to Beten and Droun. "You two stay here. The _aruetii_ and I are goin' to head up and check it out. Make sure nothing comes near."

As the Berserkers obeyed their leader, Brianna crept forward at a crouch, scanning the area. She double-checked the charge of her pistols as she hopped up on top of a speeder. Norac snuck past her, his heavy combat boots making surprisingly little noise. She watched the tattoos on his bare back ripple as he unslung his heavy shield and raised his axe.

Brianna pressed her back to the wall next to the corner and nodded to Norac. The Berserker leader nodded back and hefted his razor-edged axe to chest level.

_On three_, she mouthed. He nodded in agreement and raised three fingers.

_Three… two… one!_

Brianna threw herself around the corner, pistols leveled. Norac shouted and sprinted around the corner as well, crouching behind his shield for greater protection. Brianna caught a glimpse of a tall, shadowy figure that could have been a Trandoshan Elite and prepared to fire. Before she could, however, a deep voice shouted, "_Wait_!"

She couldn't help herself; she hesitated, lowering her pistols a fraction of an inch. She lowered them completely when the shadowy figure stepped into the light, revealing dark purple skin, long black dreadlocks, and blazing yellow eyes.

"Prime Minister Adulal?"

The Tachadori bowed his head slightly and lowered his humming purple vibrosword. It deactivated with a buzz. "It is good to see friendly forces within the city."

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?" Norac said with a scowl, slowly lowering his axe.

"Unlike the Governor," Adulal said, turning his intense yellow gaze on Norac, "I will not sit idly by while my city comes under attack. As the leader of the Tachador, it is my responsibility to guide my people through this time of crisis."

He turned to Brianna and gestured with a long-fingered hand at the force of six other alien soldiers that stood behind him. "I accompanied the Tachadori Warriors to the planet's surface. This patrol was tasked by your leader to clear this sector of the city."

He narrowed his eyes. "Which leads me to ask: what exactly are you doing here?"

Brianna hesitated before slowly saying, "My… my boyfriend is a soldier with the Mandalorians. Early on in the assault he and his partner went missing. I'm looking for him."

"Why do you not travel with a larger force?"

She smiled a little. "Shysa didn't exactly give me permission to leave. But I had no other choice."

He stared at her, then his thin purple lips twitched in what could have been the beginnings of a smile. "Your devotion to your mate is commendable. Where are you travelling to search for him?"

She pointed further down the street. "We think he may be somewhere in that direction."

Adulal nodded gracefully. "Then my Warriors and I will accompany you for a time. We were travelling in that direction before one of my soldiers noticed your voices coming from down the next street."

Norac let out a quiet _hmph_ sound and turned to tell his Berserkers that they were clear. Adulal watched him go, staring after the man with his glowing yellow eyes.

"How were the Supercommandos doing when you last saw them?" Brianna asked.

He sheathed his vibrosword. "They were faring quite well. They have set up in the spaceport, transforming it into their secondary command post. With the city cleared between your plaza base and the spaceport, they are able to transport troops and supplies between the two posts. I do not believe the city will remain occupied for much longer."

"Good," Brianna sighed. "I knew they wouldn't miss a few soldiers."

"Does your datapad tell you the location of your mate?" Adulal inquired.

"It does."

"Then let us move quickly," he said. "We do not know how much longer this area will remain safe."

After Norac and his Berserkers had rejoined them, the larger group followed the beacon further down the street. There were no Trandos for several minutes. They ran across a small patrol several blocks away but it didn't slow them down much. After only a few minutes, they had reached Vhetin's approximate location.

"Okay," Brianna said. "This is it. Cin has to be around here somewhere."

She turned to Norac and the Berserkers and said, "You guys fan out to the west. See if you can find any evidence as to where he or Jay could be."

"We don't take orders from _aruetiise_ like-"

"Just do it."

Norac stood fuming for a few moments more before ordering Beten and Droun to move out. She watched them go before turning to Adulal and his lanky soldiers.

"If you could help us look…" she began hesitantly.

Adulal bowed his head. "I would be honored to assist you in your search. Where do you need us?"

"If you could take the area to the west and look for a Mandalorian or a brown-haired woman, it would be extremely helpful."

He nodded and turned on his heel, snapping orders in his native language. His soldiers saluted and spread out across the street, searching for any trace of Vhetin.

Brianna looked down at the datapad in her hands, looking at the pulsing red dot that was Vhetin's location. Her heart was suddenly pounding; he was around here somewhere. They were close now.

Then she looked up and began searching herself. She couldn't risk shouting his name and alerting any Trandoshan patrols in the area. So she began looking inside the lobbies of the buildings that flanked either side of the street.

After fifteen minutes of searching, she didn't find any hint of activity besides evidence of Trando movement in the area. There was a pool of pale green blood on the floor of one of the buildings that gave Brianna slight hope of finding a new lead. Further investigation, however, revealed that the Trandoshan to whom the blood belonged was sprawled across the floor further inside the lobby. There was no evidence of blaster wounds on the alien's body, and it looked like the creature had been killed by a burst of rounds from a heavy repeater.

It was possible that Vhetin or Jay had killed the Trando, but it wasn't uncommon for the lizards to fight among themselves. She had seen it firsthand during this deployment; the Elites would beat up on the Trando Hunters, and the Elites and Hunters would beat up on the Minors.

As she abandoned her perusal of that particular lobby, Norac's gravelly voice caught her attention. He was calling her name, jogging toward her from across the street.

"You found something?" she asked hopefully.

He nodded and gestured for her to follow him. "You're goin' to want to see this."

The Berserker leader led her to a side street where Beten, Droun, and the Tachadori Warriors were waiting for her. When she turned her attention to the street, she saw that it was obvious a fight had broken out; there were craters in the street from grenade explosions, Trandoshan bodies slumped over speeder hoods and against building walls, and there were blaster burns everywhere.

Norac jerked his head at the street and said, "The lizards don't use your fancy laser guns. Think it could be your guy?"

"It might be," she murmured, stepping closer. "I don't see any human blood, so if it is Cin or Jay then they probably weren't wounded. They've probably moved on."

"Soldier," Adulal's voice boomed from up the street. "What have you discovered?"

Brianna looked up to see one of the Prime Minister's warriors bend over and scoop up the unmistakable green-red battle helmet of a Mandalorian Protector. She jogged over to the alien and took the helmet from him.

"What is it?" the soldier asked her, cocking his purple-skinned head to one side.

"It's Cin," she breathed. "It's his helmet."

"How can you tell?"

She pointed to a long, thin scar across the domed forehead of the helmet. "See this? A mercenary with a vibrosword made this scratch during a deployment on Aeres Five a year ago."

"Why would a Protector leave behind his helmet?" Beten asked. "Don't they have some kind of computer system that helps them in battle?"

Brianna pried open the access panel on the back of the helmet and checked the helmet's power supply. Like she had assumed, the internal head's-up display was completely out of power. Without it, the helmet would probably be more useful as _beskar_ water bucket.

She sighed and tossed the helmet aside. "Cin was definitely here, but he's moved on."

"Wait," Droun boomed, "_that's_ what we came all this way to find? A _shabla_ empty helmet?"

"We're getting closer," Brianna said, kneeling next to a dead Trando and cautiously touching its leathery skin. "This body is still warm. This fight must have happened recently."

The huge Berserker snorted and turned away, muttering to himself. Brianna didn't pay him any attention and instead pointed up the street. "Let's keep heading that way. We can see if there are any other clues we can follow."

Adulal ordered his soldiers to secure the street. The purple-skinned aliens nodded and quickly spread out, hefting their weapons menacingly. Brianna traveled with them, taking up position further down the street. She knelt behind the cover of a flaming speeder bus and glanced down a side street.

Cin must be in this area. If she had to guess she would say that he and Jay had passed through only a few hours before. She was getting closer and closer, but she still wished he had left her some clue as to whether he needed help.

_Stay focused, _she thought. _If he does need help, the last thing he needs is you overthinking the situation. Stay calm, stay focused, and don't rush into things in the hope that you'll find him sooner._

She was just about to head further down the street when she saw a spotlight up ahead. She cursed and gestured for her small group to take cover.

"What is it?" Beten asked, skidding to a halt next to Brianna.

"Scav droid up ahead," she whispered. "I'm guessing it's a Trando patrol."

Beten cursed and relayed the message to the others. Brianna pressed herself closer to the bus and raised her pistols, hearing the heavy footsteps drawing closer to the bus. She waited, barely breathing, and heard the lizards hissing and growling to each other.

"Sspread out," one of them muttered. "Keep your eyes on potential hiding places."

"I thought thiss area was ssecure."

"Gariss losst contact with sseveral patrolss in thiss area," one of the lizards grunted. "He thinks the cause iss one of those Mandalorianss."

"The mercenariess? What are they doing thiss deep in the city?"

"Unknown. But we musst be careful. Jusst in casse."

Beten moved to attack but Brianna caught her wrist in a tight grip. When the Berserker glared at her, she shook her head and mouthed, _Wait._

She held on to Beten's wrist for the count of three heartbeats, then let her go and nodded. The woman's face broke into a feral grin and threw herself around the corner with a shout.

Brianna had barely stepped out to follow her when she heard the loud _clang_ of something smashing against Beten's rounded shield. The sound was quickly followed by a raspy Trandoshan scream.

"Berserkers!" she heard Norac shout. She caught a glimpse of him pointing his heavy battle-axe at the enemy and roaring, "_Jurkad! Oya Mando'ade!_"

Brianna raised her pistols and fired a three-shot burst at a Trandoshan Minor that was rushing toward Beten with daggers drawn. The alien crumpled, dead before it hit the ground.

Norac slammed into a Trando Minor, slamming the blade of his axe into the alien. There was a quick spray of green blood before the lizard fell to the ground. Norac let out a shout, spinning and using his momentum to increase the speed of his axe. He swung it like a bolo-ball bat and buried it in another lizard's body.

Adulal let out an otherworldly roar and drew his vibrosword. He charged forward, his purple-black robe billowing out around him and revealing the angular black combat armor he wore beneath. He and his Tachadori Warriors ploughed into the unusually large Trandoshan patrol.

They were magnificent, almost making Brianna's jaw drop open in amazement. Their inhuman grace while in combat reminded Brianna of stories she'd been told of ancient Corellian gladiators; beings who lived for combat, who turned their struggles into a form of art. She watched as Adulal pivoted on one foot, whirling his vibrosword over his head and slashed it down across a Hunter's shoulder. The lizard clutched its wound and hissed in pain before the Prime Minister spun elegantly and rammed his glowing purple saber through the lizard's chest. The alien stiffened and fell.

Without breaking stride, Adulal gracefully spun and slashed upward across another lizard's stomach before kicking it away. Around him, his soldiers were all fighting with the same deadly grace, almost looking as if they were engaged in a fast, deadly dance. Their swords flashed and their arms and feet lashed out at their enemies, felling them in droves.

The battle was over before it had barely begun. Within moments, the Tachadori Warriors had efficiently dealt with the entirety of the patrol. The tall aliens stood over the new battlefield, calmly wiping green blood off their weapons and speaking quietly to each other.

Brianna wasn't the only one amazed by their prowess with a blade. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Norac and Droun staring at the violet-skinned aliens with open mouths. Droun let the heavy head of his battle hammer hit the pavement underfoot with a dull _thunk_, his gaze following one of the aliens as it sheathed its saber and brushed ash off its shoulders.

"That…" Norac breathed, "that was the… most incredible thing I've ever seen."

Adulal turned his gaze to the Berserker leader and inclined his head in gratitude. "I thank you for your praise. I have heard that Mandalorians are difficult to impress."

"Consider me impressed," Droun mumbled, staring at Adulal with wide eyes.

Norac took a step forward, hesitated, then bowed his head. "I feel I must apologize. When I first saw your soldiers, I wrote you all off as simple _aruetiise _with disgraceful combat experience_. _But now I see that you're more talented warriors than many of my people will ever be."

He kept his gaze on the pavement and pressed a palm against his tattooed chest. "Please accept my… most humble apologies. _Ni ceta, aruetii_."

Brianna's eyebrows shot up at Norac's words. That particular apology, which translated to mean simply _I kneel_, was one of the most somber and humble apologies a Mandalorian could offer. And hearing it come from none other than the fiery and hotheaded Norac…

She looked to the Berserker leader with newfound respect as he slowly raised his head. _So,_ she thought, _there's more to him than a lust for blood. I can honestly say I'm surprised._

Adulal, meanwhile, cocked his head to one side. His black dreadlocks swayed as he nodded his head and said, "I accept your apologies, friend. But you are fearsome warriors yourselves. Perhaps our peoples could learn something of each other?"

Norac hesitated, then quietly said, "Perhaps... perhaps."

Brianna quietly slipped past them, returning to her scouting position behind the wrecked speeder bus. Whether or not the Berserkers and the Tachadori were suddenly chums, Cin was still out there. Their job wasn't over yet.

Brianna now suspected that finding Vhetin would require something just short of a miracle. But after seeing Norac so humbled by an outsider, she was more optimistic that miracles of that magnitude were entirely possible.

"Okay," she called over her shoulder. "We should probably move out."

Norac finished his quiet conversation with Adulal and slowly held out his hand. The Prime Minister covered it with his own long fingered hand and shook it with a slow, graceful bow of his head. Droun, meanwhile, lumbered up to Brianna's position and leaned on his gigantic hammer.

"Where are we going?" he said. "This whole time we were following that signal that led us to that damn helmet."

She consulted the map on her datapad display and said, "It looks like what's left of the police department headquarters is a half-mile to the north. It might be worth checking out. Let's move."

"No."

Brianna frowned and turned to Beten, the speaker. She was standing in the middle of the street, her trident and shield hanging limply at her sides. She was looking up into the air, her eyes suddenly very wide.

"What?" Brianna said with a frown. "What did you just say?"

"We're not going anywhere," Beten said slowly. She didn't move to face Brianna.

"Why is that?"

The Berserker slowly nodded in the direction she was staring. Brianna craned her neck up to look at the roofline and instantly froze.

Arranged on the rooftops on either side of the street were at least fifty humanoid beings. They wore tattered, stained clothing and most were wearing goggles of some type.

Norac spotted the observers and cursed. He hefted his battle-axe and shield into an aggressive stance. The Tachadori Warriors that surrounded him dropped into a combat stance as well and activated glowing vibroswords.

The beings on the rooftops noticed the movements and gestured at them with blaster rifles. They all began shouting at once for them to drop their weapons and put their hands on their heads. When the search party didn't comply, one of the beings fired several shots that exploded at Norac's feet. The Berserker leader scrambled back, shouting curses up at the goggled beings.

"Like I said," Beten muttered, "we're not going anywhere."

* * *

"How're we coming, Jay?"

He looked over his shoulder to find her tapping furiously into the holoterminal. She didn't answer him and he repeated his question.

"I'm working as fast as I can!" she snapped. "Shut up and let me work."

"Fierfek_, _I was just asking," he said, slightly insulted by her tone. "Excuse me."

"Sorry," she sighed. "I'm just trying to get this security system down. And it's starting to look like it'll take a computer genius to crack this system."

"So what's the problem?"

She glared at him. "I'm not a computer genius."

"How long is it going to take?" he asked, shouldering his rifle. "I don't know how long the lizards are going to stay occupied. Speed it up if you can."

She scowled and deactivated three different holographic windows. "I'm working as fast as I can. I'm not Jaing."

Vhetin turned his gaze back to the door. He shook his head slightly and thought, _I felt calmer when we were storming the room. All this waiting is getting to me._

He tensed, preparing to raise his rifle as a Trando drew a little too close for comfort. It stooped, sniffing at a patch of dark red blood on the ground. Then it hissed to itself and moved on. Vhetin watched it turn the corner before lowering his rifle.

In truth, his real discomfort came from being so close to regrouping with the Supercommandos. They only had one last push now, but it was undoubtedly going to be the most dangerous yet.

He guiltily wondered if Brianna was worried about him. She probably was and he felt guilty for putting her through this entire situation. He wanted nothing more than to regroup with the Supercommandos and see her again. But as he remembered the guilt he felt while giving away the comlink she had given him, he knew that if there was any chance of finding her again he would need to make some sacrifices he wasn't entirely comfortable with. Cutting her off and making her worry was what he had to do in order for them both to come out of this deployment alive. She would understand once he explained that to her.

_I didn't really have a choice, _he thought. _I did what I had to in order to survive. Now we have a chance to make it out and beat the Trandoshans back. Isn't that worth it?_

The analytical, mercenary side of his mind told him that it was absolutely worth it. But another part of his mind, the part that loved Brianna, told him that putting her through any kind of worry or harm wasn't worth anything. That part of his mind told him that she needed to be protected from any harm no matter what the cost.

_But she's an accomplished bounty huntress_. _She's more than capable of taking care of herself. You know that, she knows that. She'll understand._

He was jerked out of his musing when he spotted a small group of Trandoshans heading in the direction of the security building. He quickly shouldered his rifle and wrapped his finger around the firing stud just in case.

"Jay," he called, "how close are you?"

"I'm just about there," she said. "I had to guess a few Imperial passwords. That's never easy, but-"

"Give me a time limit."

"Uh… five minutes? Why?"

Vhetin narrowed his eyes as the Trandos moved closer and closer. "Because I think we have about thirty seconds. Tops."

"Oh fierfek," she muttered and began typing faster. "Okay, if I do this the sloppy way we should be good in under three minutes."

"I'll try and keep our guests occupied," he said, racking back the charging rod of his rifle. It powered up with a loud synthetic buzz. "Keep working."

By the time the Trandoshans were only ten feet from the door and making no move to alter their course, Vhetin raised his rifle and squeezed off three shots. The first lizard dropped, falling to the ground without so much as a groan.

"Intruderss!" one of the aliens shouted.

"Oh yeah," Vhetin said. "They know we're here now."

"I'm stepping up the pace," Jay reported. "Damn Imperial codes."

Vhetin ducked behind the door as shotgun rounds dug into the duracrete by his head. He grimaced against the spray of synthetic stone and fired his rifle. Another Trandoshan fell, but he could see several others sprinting toward the sudden commotion.

He fed a new magazine into his rifle and opened up at the onrushing aliens. He managed to hit two of them before the others made it to cover. They began spraying the open doorway with shotgun fire. The fire was too thick to do much besides poke his head or the barrel of his rifle out from behind cover and squeeze off a few shots.

"Jay," he called, "we need those turrets down so Barrage and the police can get in here and-"

"Save our asses?" she muttered.

"I was going to say _lend us some support_," he said. "But saving our asses would probably be correct."

"I've… almost… got it," she murmured, her voice thick with concentration. After a few more moments she cried, "Got it!"

"The turrets are down?"

She nodded and grabbed her own rifle off her belt. "If Cyclone and his men are paying attention, they should be here in a few minutes."

He cursed as the Trandoshans lobbed a grenade through the door. He scooped it up and hurled it back outside. "We may not have a few minutes. These lizards are seriously torked off."

She flanked the other side of the door. "How many are there?"

"Six that I can see," he said, "with more undoubtedly on the way."

"Let's just stay put," she said, "and wait for Cyclone and his men to start their attack. Chances are that'll be a bigger threat than two outnumbered mercs.  
As if on cue, a blaring alarm sounded over the security post's main intercom. Vhetin could hear the same alarm resounding through the whole of the base. In the distance, he could also hear the unmistakable sound of explosions and blaster fire.

"Speak of the devil," Jay said with a bit of a smile. She stuck her head around the door and watched the hostile Trandoshans scurry around the corner and out of sight.

"See?" she said, flashing him a grin. "No problem."

"Not yet," he reminded her. "We still need to link up with the police forces and take out the jamming towers."

Her smile didn't fade. "Come on. After everything we've done to get this far? It's all easy from here."

"Don't get overconfident. You'll get sloppy if you do."

"I'm not overconfident," she said as they stepped slowly out of the building. "I'm just optimistic."

"That's almost as bad."

"Killjoy. You should be excited. Just a little bit more and you'll be able to see Brianna again."

"Yeah," he sighed. "I guess you're right."

"You sound worried."

He raised his rifle, scanning the rooftops as they made their way toward the sounds of battle coming from the southwest. "I'm not going to lie and say I don't feel somewhat responsible for everything she must be going through. But I also realize that there's nothing I can do to change it now."

"I'm sure she'll just be glad to see you alive after everything that's happened," she said slowly. Then she fell silent for a long time.

He glanced over at her and found her staring at the ground. He cocked his head and said, "Everything all right?"

She nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Are you thinking about Sade?"

She nodded again, though this time she smiled a little. "I'm just thinking of what he would say to me if he could see me now. His second-in-command becoming a mercenary? I don't think he'd stop cursing for weeks."

Vhetin was reluctant to mention her old boyfriend – who had been killed during the time she had spent in the Navy – but the pained look on her face worried him. She would need to pay close attention if she was to survive the next few hours.

"I'm sure he would be proud of the woman you've become," he said. "You've proven yourself to be a true warrior during this deployment."

She laughed. "I'm not sure he'd approve of his girlfriend becoming a _true warrior_. And honestly I'm not sure I approve of it either."

"You signed up for this."

"I wish you'd stop reminding me."

They warily made their way around a corner and Vhetin said, "Let me put it this way; have you learned a lot during your time spent here?"

"Yes," she grudgingly admitted.

"Are you going to be able to apply that knowledge in future hunting contracts?"

"I guess I could."

He shrugged. "Then I'd call this deployment a useful experience. Something you should look back on with fondness."

When she stared at him as if he was insane he quickly clarified, "Well maybe not fondness… how about weary indifference?"

"With emphasis on _weary_," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "Every time we get put in situations like this I feel like it takes years off my life."

"You're not alone," he chuckled. "That's a natural feeling when you're stressed."

"I was stressed _hours_ ago. Now I feel like-"

They both fell silent as they heard a reptilian snarl from around the corner. They both raised their rifles and slowed almost to a complete halt. Vhetin made a fist in the air, motioning for Jay to stay close. She nodded and responded with her own hand signals. She pointed to her eyes, then to the corner of a building, around which the sound was emanating. Translated, it meant that she was going to make her way around the corner and she wanted him to watch her back.

He moved forward slowly, keeping an eye on his partner as she pressed her back against the wall. She glanced at Vhetin and nodded. He nodded back and motioned for her to go.

She let out a short breath and threw herself around the corner. He was right behind her when she opened up on full automatic fire at the group of aliens standing just ahead. Most of the lizards crumpled almost instantly, but Vhetin spotted one of them raise its shotgun as it clutched at its bleeding stomach.

Instinct snapped in. He raised his rifle and fired twice. The Trando was knocked off its feet, sprawling back into the shadows.

Jay shook her head, her ears obviously ringing from the close-proximity blaster shot. She glanced at Vhetin and said, "Thanks… I think. I may be deaf in my right ear now."

"You're welcome."

"What?"

"Never mind," he said. He cocked his head, listening closely for the sounds of battle coming from the perimeter of the military base. "We have to be getting close to Cyclone's forces."

"I think we are," Jay said. She pointed to a large plume of smoke rising from around a nearby building. "We should start looking there and see-"

She was cut off by a huge explosion that shook the ground beneath their feet. They both staggered, frantically trying to regain their balance as the explosion was followed by another and another.

"What the hell is that?" Jay shouted over the noise. "Another TIE bombing run?"

"I think it's just Cyclone and Barrage getting excited about the attack," Vhetin shouted back. "We don't know what kind of weapons they had stored in the police HQ."

"All the more reason to link back up with them," she said, sprinting toward the explosion. "I don't really want to get hit with that thing because they think we're Trandoshans."

Vhetin dashed after her, wincing as a fresh wave of pain ripped through his chest. All this activity was putting strain on his stitches. He was sure they would hold until their mission was over, however; he had faith in Jay's medical abilities.

Moments later, they emerged onto a street that looked like it had gone straight to hell. There were fires burning everywhere and the duracrete surface of the street was cracked and blown apart. There were ragged-looking police officers on one side of the street, crouching behind wrecked speeders or downed light poles as they sprayed the Trandoshans on the other side of the street with blaster fire. The lizards had barricaded themselves behind permacrete riot barriers they had obviously set up when they had first secured the military base.

Vhetin clipped his rifle back to his belt and ignited his lightsaber. The blue blade erupted out of its housing with a synthetic _snap-hiss _as he turned to Jay and shouted, "Link up with the police officers and find our infiltration group! I'll take care of the Trandos!"

"Be careful!" she shouted back. "Don't get yourself shot again!"

He nodded, cracking the slightest smile, then sprinted toward a Trandoshan Elite that had a group of police officers pinned down under fire from its heavy repeater cannon. He slashed the weapon in half before scoring a red-hot gash down the huge lizard's chest. It fell with a gurgle and Vhetin moved on to a Trandoshan Minor crouching behind an Imperial E-Web blaster turret. He knocked the turret over with a well-placed kick. The Trandoshan took one look at him before turning and running away with a terrified screech.

He must have certainly been a fearsome sight; an armored warrior in green-red armor splattered with Trandoshan blood, his flight suit smoking and stained red in places from his wounds, his black facemask torn in several places, and his eyes blazing. He probably looked more terrifying than the Berserkers did, with their dark tattoos and crude weapons.

He continued to work his way down the Trandoshan lines, routing or killing any lizards he came across. With the police forces pressing this new advantage, the street was cleared in only ten minutes.

Vhetin stood, surrounded by dead Trandoshans, panting hard. His chest ached with every breath but he forced himself to ignore the pain until the mission was over. He double-checked that the area was secure before deactivating his lightsaber and clipping it to his belt. He replaced the weapon with his rifle.

He spotted Cyclone and Barrage sprinting closer, Jay leading them. The main force of the police followed at a more sedate pace, sweeping their weapons over the area. Vhetin saw with some surprise that some of them were hefting bulky rocket launchers; obviously the cause of the tremendous explosions they had heard earlier.

"Hey," Jay said as she drew closer. "Nice work."

"Thanks. Is Team A ready?"

She nodded. "They're getting their demolitions equipment ready as we speak. They should be ready to go in the next five minutes."

Vhetin nodded and turned to Barrage. He nodded to the rocket launchers several officers were carrying and said, "I thought you said you didn't have enough heavy armament to storm the military base."

"We don't," the man grunted. "We only have five launchers with ten extra rockets total. Those guns look big, but after a few minutes they'll be barely better than a big expensive club."

Cyclone began speaking quickly in his unintelligible language. Barrage listened intently, then nodded and said, "Cyclone wants us to move out as quickly as we can. He wants these alien bastards out of his city as soon as possible."

Vhetin nodded. "We'll get right on it."

Then he motioned for Team A to move up. As they complied, securing the last of their weapons and demolitions as they did, he turned to Jay. "Do you think you could lead us to the jamming towers?"

She nodded and took the datapad he offered her. "If you can watch our back, I'll get us there."

She consulted the pad for a moment, then gestured for Team A to follow her deeper into the base. Vhetin stepped after them, wary of any Trandoshan snipers.

It was important that they didn't run across any surprises on their trip to the jamming towers; the police officers accompanying them were carrying enough explosives to level a city block.

* * *

Brianna and her small group soon found that the raggedly dressed soldiers were not as they first appeared. In fact, they weren't even hostile. As soon as they spotted the Tachadori, they quickly made their way down from their rooftop vantage points and sprinted up to them. Many were grinning from ear to ear and they shook Adulal's hand gratefully. After a few moments they moved on to the other Tachadori Warriors, then finally to the Mandalorians.

"Who are these guys?" Beten asked as a man shook her hand emphatically and spoke to her in a language Brianna couldn't understand.

Adulal chuckled, a deep, pleasant sound. "They are the local police force. Apparently they have been cut off from allied forces since the city came under assault. To say that they are pleased to find us here is quite an understatement."

One of the soldiers spoke to him in that same unknown language – Brianna assumed it was the local Tachadori dialect – and he frowned. He spoke a few words back to the man, then shook his head and said, "It appears I was mistaken; we are not the first friendly forces they have encountered."

Brianna could swear her heart skipped a beat. "What? Is it-"

"Patience, young one," Adulal said. "I will attempt to learn more."

He spoke with the man for a time before saying, "It appears that they apprehended a pair of intruders to their territory some hours ago: a man in green armor and a woman in black armor."

He gestured to Brianna and said, "These officers are certain her armor matched yours."

"That would be Jay," Brianna said, taking a step closer. "And the man in green armor…"

"Your mate?"

She nodded. Adulal nodded as well and said, "I will try to learn more."

"Try to find out where they went," Norac said. "The last thing I need today is some bucket-head Mando gettin' more Trandoshan kills than me."

Adulal spoke with the human for some time. Brianna watched them both intently, listening for any signs of tension or surprise that would give her a clue as to where her boyfriend was. It was hard to keep up with the short, clipped words of the language, however, and she was soon struggling to even pick out words from the stream of sounds coming from the man's mouth.

Adulal seemed to have no such trouble; he just listened intently, sometimes nodding and sometimes speaking back to the man in the same language. The other Warriors around him seemed to be listening intently as well, their intense glowing eyes never leaving the man in ragged clothing.

Droun stared at them, rubbing at an angular tattoo on his muscular shoulder. He snorted and spat onto the duracrete at his boots. "Figures," he grumbled. "If these _aruetiise_ had any common sense they would speak a language we all could understand."

Norac stalked back and forth behind the huge Berserker, flexing his grip on his battle-axe restlessly. "As long as they lead us to more Trandos, I'm not complainin' and neither should you."

"Quiet," Brianna hissed at them. "I'm trying to listen."

Norac was about to shoot back a retort, but Adulal interrupted him, speaking in Basic.

"There is no more need to listen to speech you do not comprehend. Officer Del has finished his tale."

"And?"

Adulal turned to them and inclined his large head. "Your mate and his companion passed through this area less than two hours ago. They were alive – at least when Officer Del last saw them – and they convinced the leader of the police forces here to stage an attack on the main Trandoshan stronghold."

"To what purpose?" Beten said, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "If the Trandos are dug in there, it would be stupid to attack them head-on."

Adulal exchanged a few more words with the officer, then his yellow eyes flashed in surprise. When Brianna asked him what was wrong, he let out a quiet chuckle and said, "Apparently the Trandoshans discovered a way to transform the communication towers at the local military base into comm jamming towers. Your mate went there to destroy them."

"Jamming towers?" Brianna echoed. "Is that why we lost all comms?"

"I believe so."

"Then we should help them," she said immediately, taking a step forward. "They're going to need our help to get into the Trando base."

"Whoa, whoa," Norac said, stepping between her and Adulal. "Wait a _shabla_ minute here. We Berserkers agreed to help you find your idiot boyfriend, not stage an _osik_-brained assault on the main force of Trandoshans."

"I thought you wanted to kill as many lizards as possible," Brianna said, raising an eyebrow.

"Killin' lizards is fine. But attacking the bulk of their soldiers with less than fifteen warriors isn't my idea of an act of _kote."_

Beten snorted behind him. "More like _shabla _suicide."

"So you'd rather head back to the spaceport where it's _safer_," Brianna said slowly, "and let an _aruetii_ do all the killing?"

Norac was about to say something when Droun's deep voice cut him off.

"I'm goin' with her."

Norac stared at the huge soldier with open surprise. "You _what_?"

Droun stepped up to Brianna, then turned to his companions and folded his massive arms across his chest. "You heard. I'm goin' with her. If there's Trandos that need killing, I'm not gonna miss out."

Beten cocked her head and said, "What happened to your idea of not getting killed for _aruetiise_?"

"I ain't doing this for the _aruetii_," he boomed. "I'm doing this because we lost Vander and Dom and an _osik_load of other _vode_. The Trandos need to pay for that."

He patted his hammer with grim affection. "And I'm going to make 'em pay."

Beten frowned at him, then slowly nodded. "When you put it like that…"

"_Gratua_," Norac murmured. "_Gratua bal kote_."

Droun nodded. "_Gratua bal kote_. Vengeance and glory is what we're signing on for. What true _Mando'ad_ could refuse that opportunity?"

Norac narrowed his eyes, then hefted his battle-axe and nodded darkly.

"All right, _aruetii_," he said. "We'll go with you and help kill some Trandos. But if you think we're dyin' for you, you're sadly mistaken."

"I wouldn't want you to die for me," she said. "You guys are stronger, deadlier warriors than I could ever be, and are a greater asset to the Protectors than I am. In a way, I value your lives more than my own."

The Berserker leader looked at her with newfound respect. "You know, you're not all that bad. For an _aruetii,_ that is."

She nodded. "Neither are you. For a technology-shunning savage, that is."

He threw his head back and let out a quick bark of laughter. "You've got a big mouth. Let's hope you have the combat skills to back it up."

* * *

**Trandoshan stronghold, former Imperial military base**

Jay peeked around a corner, scanning the area for hostile contacts. She waited a few heartbeats before motioning the rest of her squad forward. The scruffy line of police officers crept forward, rifles sweeping the area. Vhetin brought up the rear, his dark blue eyes flashing in the darkness.

"Just a little farther," she whispered. "We're almost to the support legs of the first tower. Get ready to plant your charges, guys."

Vhetin checked his rifle ammunition for the third time in five minutes. "We should step up the pace. We haven't caught sight of any Trandos in the last ten minutes. I'm waiting for the other _cetar_ to drop."

One of the police officers chuckled. "I don't know what a _cetar_ is, but I completely agree. I thought this was going to be _difficult_."

"Be careful what you wish for," another officer said. "I'm perfectly content to have the Trandos leave us alone."

Jay sighted along the street ahead and signaled for them to move up. There was no sign of Trandoshan activity, just another stretch of empty, lifeless-looking road flanked by scorched and walls marked with tiny pockmarks from shotgun blasts.

"Let's move up," she said. She looked up sharply as a hissing screech rang through the silence. She fell into a crouch and raised her rifle. "What's that?"

"Trandoshan Hunter," Vhetin murmured. "They use hunting calls like that to communicate."

The screech was followed by another, then another. Jay spun toward the sounds and a shiver ran down her spine at the chilling sound. There had to be at least fifty Hunters, all calling and screeching to each other from across the base.

One of the police officers narrowed his eyes and growled, "I wonder what they're planning."

"That's not our concern," Vhetin said. "All we need to do is find the target jamming tower and take it out. If the second team is able to get the other, we can finally call in reinforcements."

"What if they know we're here? The Trandos, I mean."

"Then we'll see them soon enough." Vhetin stepped past the officers, taking point with Jay as they neared the comm tower.

She took the lead, staying a step ahead of her partner. She made her way up to an overturned waste dumpster and used it for cover as she scouted out the area ahead.

"So what do you think?" Vhetin asked as he drew closer. "We should be in the right area."

She nodded. "According to our intel of this area, we should be right under the first support strut now."

"So where is it?"

She shook her head with a frown. All that she could see were empty storage facilities and security checkpoints, the likes of which they had been passing by for the last twenty minutes. She could see some kind of cylindrical structure a hundred yards ahead, but nothing else that stood out.

Vhetin turned and motioned one of the officers forward. The man jogged up to them and whispered, "What's wrong?"

"Your intel told us that this was the location of the jamming tower."

"Right."

Vhetin stared at him expectantly. "Well? Where the hell is it?"

The man chuckled and said, "You guys are so concerned about looking around for enemies. Have you taken a single look at where we are?"

"What are you talking about?"

He simply pointed straight up and craned his neck back. Jay followed his gaze and gasped as she saw the huge comm tower stretching hundreds of feet above their heads, tethered to nearby buildings by huge support cables easily the size of Coruscant monorail cars. The entire structure was centered on the huge cylindrical support shaft further up the road.

"Oh," Vhetin said quietly. "How did we miss that?"

Jay let out a low whistle and covered her eyes against the smoky orange glare of the sun. Then she shook her head and sighed, "We're going to need more explosives."

They quickly set to work unpacking their demolitions equipment. Some of the officers worked on sorting out the different strengths of explosives and prepping them for use while Jay, Vhetin, and a group of other officers debated the best place to hit the tower to cause it the most damage.

"No, no, no," one of the officers said. He pointed to the holographic image of the tower that Vhetin had scanned and said, "The best place to blow it is the center pillar. We hit that and the whole thing collapses."

"Right on top of us," Jay pointed out, folding her arms across her chest. "We need some kind of explosion that will bring down the tower, but leave it standing long enough for us to get clear."

"We could pull everyone out before blowing the demolitions," the man said.

"The detonators have a signal range of three hundred yards maximum to avoid being blocked by the tower with the jammer," Vhetin said. "We'll have to narrow that down to a hundred yards to account for the fact that we may be closer to that jammer. Someone would have to stay here to detonate the explosives."

He fixed the man with a skeptical stare and said, "Are you volunteering?"

The officer stared back, then sighed and backed down. The group stared at the hologram in silence for a few long moments, stumped. Then Vhetin said, "Look, the way I see it we have a simple choice: plant the charge here, on one of the support cables."

"What would that accomplish?" an officer asked.

"If we used enough explosives to snap the cable," Vhetin explained, "the force of it snapping would whip across other cables and break them. The entire tower would fall over."

"How would we keep it from falling right on us?" a female officer asked, cocking her head curiously.

"Same principle as cutting down a tree. We snap the cables on the side facing the direction we want it to fall. The supports will be weakest on that side and it'll fall away from us."

"This is a really, _really_ big tree. We can't assume that a three-hundred-foot metal tower is going to act like a seventy-foot organic tree."

Vhetin stared at the officer, then nodded and said, "You actually have a point there."

Another officer, who had been silent the entire conversation, finally stepped forward and said, "What if we use that plan in a different way?"

Jay glanced at him and frowned. "What do you mean?"

He pointed to the central support platform, from which the main tower projected. The cables all hooked up to the platform in a circular, spoked arrangement. "Let's hit the tower there, just above the support platform. We leave the base of the tower intact, just knock down the important part. That way the tower is only about a hundred-fifty or so feet high and we can safely control the explosion and fall of the tower."

Jay glanced at her partner. "Well? You're the resident expert at blowing stuff up. What do you say?"

"It's possible," he slowly said. "The only question is how much explosives to use. If we use too much it could shatter the tower and rain shrapnel down on us as we retreat."

"We'll pack a small load," the officer said. "If it doesn't work, we can always send someone up to plant another charge."

Vhetin nodded and said, "That's a good idea. But who will we send? Who's crazy enough to try and climb up that thing?"

It took him a few moments to realize that everyone was staring at him. He glanced between them, then looked to Jay for help.

She raised her hands and said, "Sorry, Stripes. I did my high-flying time with that karking zip-lining stunt you proposed."

He stared at her, then sighed and muttered, "Oh kriff me."

* * *

The wind howled past Vhetin's ears as he ever so slowly moved his hand up the huge support cable beneath him and inched his way along. He cursed as a gust of wind made the huge cable sway dangerously.

"How're you doing?" Jay shouted from far below him. She and a small group of officers were standing on the building roof that held the cable's foundation. They were watching his progress intently.

"How am I doing?" he shouted back. "_Shabla _perfect, that's how I'm doing! I'm having the time of my karking life!"

"What's the matter? Afraid of heights?"

"_Everyone_ is afraid of heights!"

"You didn't seem so scared when you had me slide down that whipcord line earlier!"

"I had a kriffing _jetpack!_"

"Stop whining and just plant the damn charges!" she shouted up to him. "Cowardice doesn't really become you, Cin!"

He cursed and turned his attention back to his perilous climb. He dug his fingers into the cable as best he could and pulled himself along, heading for the support platform that seemed miles away. The wind kicked up again, making the cable jump underneath him. His grip faltered for a moment and he almost slipped right off the side.

_This is _osik_,_ he thought. _I'm going to get myself killed._

Then again, it was the best way to place the charges. He was the only one present with extensive demolitions training, and he was the only one he himself would trust to set the charges right.

_Hand over hand,_ he thought as he pulled himself along. _Just concentrate on putting one hand over the other. Do this and you'll be back with Bri before you know it._

He grimaced and inched further up the line. The wind was really picking up now, and the cable was waving back and forth more violently with each passing second.

"Might want to hurry up!" Jay called, her voice sounding very distant.

_No kidding,_ he thought. He scowled and doubled his speed, scrambling along the cable as fast as he could.

The cable suddenly bucked underneath him as a gust of wind roared past and he lost his hold. He shouted a curse as he slid over the side of the cable, scrambling for a handhold. When his hands just slipped over the cable's rough surface, he shouted and slammed his fist against the cable as hard as he possibly could.

The movement proved much more effective than if he'd been a normal human. His fist punched through the plastoid surface of the support and found a hard cylindrical object inside. He grabbed it and his descent came to a jarring halt.

The wind buffeted him about as he dangled over a hundred-foot drop. He grunted as he struggled to maintain his hold on the cylinder inside the cable.

"Cin!" Jay shouted from somewhere far below. "Are you okay?"

"Do I _look_ okay?" he shouted back.

"Do you need someone to come up and help you?"

"No! Don't send anyone else up here! It's too dangerous!"

"Then just get your job done!" she shouted. "And be careful!"

Using his grip on whatever was inside the cable, he hauled himself back up the side of the thick support and clambered back to his previous position. He slumped and let out an explosive breath before continuing further along toward the support platform.

When he finally clambered over the edge of the cable and onto the sturdy surface of the platform, he fell onto his chest and lay sprawled across the platform for a moment. It took him a few moments to get his breath back. Once he did, he slowly rose to his feet and unslung the pack of explosives he had across his back.

_Okay,_ he thought, looking around. _Where's the best place to plant a charge? It'll have to be somewhere on the other side of the tower._

He made his way around the huge rectangular base of the comm's tower, praying to _te Manda_ that they had the right tower. Unfortunately, the jammer could have been hidden in any of a hundred buildings in the area and they didn't have time to look for them all. Their only option was to destroy the tower and cut off the jammer's amplification strength.

He finally found a spot that looked suitable; a small niche in the tower about twenty feet up on the northern side of the tower. He'd have to climb up the side of the tower, but it would be a good place to detonate.

He grabbed onto a rail and hauled himself up. He climbed for a few long moments before he reached the niche. Once there, he hung by one arm and hauled his pack up onto the niche. He reached inside and pulled out a bundle of explosives. With a few well-practiced motions he set the detonator's explosion strength, countdown time, and programmed which charges should explode in a sequence that would give them the maximum structural damage to the comm tower.

_Just a little bit longer… and we're there_, he thought. The detonator lit up red and began blinking slowly .

He was about to place the bundle of charges inside the niche in the tower when he suddenly heard a loud _thoom_ and his hand erupted in agony. He shouted in pain and reflexively dropped the bundle, cradling his suddenly bleeding hand against his chest plates.

A large transport skiff glided into sight from around the tower, carrying at least fifteen Trandoshans. Three of them jumped off onto the support platform, circling Vhetin from below and aiming their shotguns squarely at his chest. One of the Trandos on the skiff fired at him, the shotgun pellets ricocheting off the metal only centimeters from his hand. He reflexively let go of the tower and crashed hard onto the support platform below.

He struggled to his hands and knees and watched the skiff as it glided lower, dropping Trandoshans off into the streets below. Mere moments later, he heard the sound of screams and blasterfire. His blood ran cold when he heard Jay's voice shouting, "Form up! Form up and-"

She broke off with a scream of pain. Vhetin tensed, thinking, _Jay!_ _If those Trandoshan fierfeks did anything to her…_

After several tense minutes, the skiff floated back up into sight, carrying four Trandoshans and two humans. One of them was Jay. She was holding her shoulder, blood leaking from between her fingers. The other captive was a human man who looked unwounded.

The Trandos roughly kicked their captives down onto the platform below the skiff. The lizards then hopped off the vehicle, joining their companions with weapons drawn.

Vhetin knelt to help Jay to her feet. She grimaced and grasped her shoulder.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

She nodded, her face screwed up in pain. "I'm sorry, Cin. One of the lizards got a lucky shot."

"What about the rest of the group?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. Probably rounded up and carted off to a slave ship. We need to get them back if we can."

"It looks like we have more important things to worry about," Vhetin said. He narrowed his eyes, watching a lanky Trandoshan in angular black armor step toward them.

"The prissonerss, as you ordered, Gariss," one of the lizards hissed.

_Gariss?_ Vhetin thought with a frown. That was the first time he'd heard a Trandoshan referred to by name. He was probably very powerful within the Trando army, maybe even their leader.

"And who the hell are you?" the officer growled. "Some two-bit slaver-"

The Trandoshan slapped the man with a powerful backhand to the face, knocking him off-balance. The lizard stared at him, its leathery snout curling in disgust.

"Sso…" it said quietly, regarding them all coldly, "you are the ones trying to desstroy our communicationss. And you should be congratulated; you almost ssucceeded."

"Almosst," one of the Trandoshans snarled at them.

"Sso," Gariss said, beginning to pace back and forth in front of them. It inspected its sharpened talons nonchalantly and hissed, "Who ssent you? That fool Cyclone?"

It narrowed its eyes and stared at Vhetin and Jay, looking them up and down. "You do not wear the armor of thesse police officerss. Who are you?"

"Your worst nightmare?" Vhetin ventured. He was promptly slapped roughly across the face. He glanced at Jay, who stifled a smile.

Not well enough; Gariss caught the motion and said, "Oh, sso you believe thiss iss funny? Iss thiss amussing to you?"

In a swift motion the Trando leader drew its shotgun and fired at the human police officer. At point-blank range, its weapon tore into the man before he could so much as scream and he toppled backward in a spray of blood.

Jay went rigid, her eyes wide. She stared at the man's body, then looked to Gariss with horror. The entire left side of her armor was splattered with the man's blood.

Gariss leaned close to Jay, close enough that its leathery snout was only centimeters from her face. It snarled at her and growled, "Do you find it sso amussing now? I didn't think sso.

"Sstill," it said, turning to one of the other Trandoshans, "it iss good that you sspend your lasst momentss with ssuch mirth in your heartss. It will make it easier for you to make peace with thiss world."

It held out a taloned hand and a Trandoshan slapped a fresh shotgun into its palm. It checked the magazine, then racked back the charging handle. It slid smoothly back and forth with a loud _chack-chack _sound_._

"Why are you here?" Vhetin demanded. "Why are you doing all of this?"

"All of what?" Gariss said. "Killing you intruderss? Jamming your communicationss? Or perhapss you wish to know why we assaulted Tandori in the firsst place?"

It let out a gravelly chuckle. "Let me tell you a ssecret. We Trandoshanss are here becausse we were _hired_ to come here."

"Who would do that?" Jay asked. "Who would hire an army of Trandoshans to kidnap thousands of innocent people?"

Gariss just stared at her. After a long silence it shook its scaly head. "You mercenariess… sso ignorant of the factss that are placed right in front of your eyess."

The Trando leader looked between the two and said, "Did you not once wonder why the Imperialss pulled their military forces out of the city the moment my troops sstarted their assault? Why the essteemed Governor Quor hass refussed to ssend down Imperial reinforcementss?"

Vhetin looked to Jay and saw the same mixture of confusion and disbelief that he felt. When he looked back at Gariss, the lizard threw his leathery-skinned head back and let out a barking laugh.

"Yess, my sstupid little Mandalorianss. It was the Empire who told uss to kidnap the citizenss of Tandori City. Governor Quor himsself placed the call to my hunterss."

* * *

**Military base perimeter, Tandori Militia Command Post**

"Cyclone!" shouted one of the officers leading Brianna and her group. "Cyclone! We have someone to see you, sir!"

A bald man in the same grimy attire as the rest of the militia soldiers turned toward the voice. He pushed a pair of heavy welding goggles up his forehead and squinted at the approaching figures. Another man nearby, also bald and with a dark black beard, did the same.

"Packrat?" the second man said. "I thought I told you to guard the southern passage to the base."

"I was, sir. But we found something you might find interesting."

The bald man turned his stern gaze on Brianna and the rest of her group. He seemed suspicious at first until Adulal and his Warriors gracefully stepped forward.

The second man's eyes widened slightly and he said, "Prime Minister? What brings you to this hellhole?"

"My city and my people are in danger," the alien said calmly. "And I shall do everything in my power to assist them in their time of need, Officer-"

The bearded man cut him off and said, "We're not using names among the militia, sir. We don't want the Trandos overhearing and tracking us back to our families."

"A most wise choice."

"The name's Barrage now," the man said. He jerked his head to the first man standing behind him. "He's Cyclone."

"Cyclone," Adulal murmured. He surveyed the ruins of the military base's perimeter and let out a deep chuckle. "A fitting name in light of the damage you have done."

"Sorry sir," Barrage said, an edge of tension creeping into his voice. "We didn't really think about keepin' the place nice and tidy. We're more worried about driving the karking Trandoshans away."

"I was not disapproving."

"Oh… okay, then."

Adual smoothly gestured to Brianna and the Berserkers and said, "These humans are a patrol for a force of mercenaries who have been deployed in the city. They are allies, and are searching for one of their own."

"More Mandalorians?" Barrage said. Cyclone began to speak very quickly in the language Brianna had heard Adulal speak earlier.

"You've run across members of our army already?" Brianna asked quickly, taking a step forward.

The bearded man nodded. "Two of 'em. A man in green armor with a black facemask and a woman who said she was his partner."

"And they're already in that mess?" Droun asked, nodding toward the ruined perimeter of the military base.

"They went in with an infiltration party about half an hour ago," Barrage nodded. "We haven't heard from them since, and we still don't have comm contact. We're beginning to think something happened."

Brianna clenched a fist and thought, _Don't say that. Don't make it sound like that._

"Well," she said in a voice that betrayed none of her worry or anxiety, "we're here to help out. We're trying to find Cin and Jay, but if there's anything you need us to do…"

Cyclone spoke again and Barrage listened intently, nodding a couple times. He eventually cleared his throat and said, "Cyclone says he needs someone to go check on Team A and see what happened with the damn jamming tower. Team B has apparently already placed their charges and are preparing to blow their targeted tower."

Brianna nodded and the Berserkers behind her grinned darkly or slapped their fists into their palms. Barrage wished them good luck before turning to Adulal and saying, "Sir, if you could reinforce the perimeter lines near the visitor's check-in booth we would really appreciate it. The troopers there are under heavy fire and would be overjoyed to see a friendly face."

Adual bowed his head. "I would be honored to fight alongside your men."

He gestured and spoke an order in his native tongue and his Warriors fell into step behind him as they strode down the street and out of sight.

Barrage handed Brianna a datachip that would plug into her pad. "These are the coordinates of Team A's tower. If you could get down there and support them if needed, it would do wonders for our officer's morale. If your fancy mercenary army could come and support our asses, they'd be over the karking moon."

Brianna nodded and took the chip before jogging across the street, toward the scarred and blasted ruins of the perimeter defenses. As she passed she noticed the thin scars of lightsaber burns on some of the Trandoshan equipment there and she hid a smile.

_I'm almost there, Cin,_ she thought, unconsciously resting a hand on the hilt of the lightsaber he'd given her. _Just a few more minutes._

"I don't like this," Beten murmured from behind her. "Where are all the Trandoshans?"

"Obviously fighting that militia," Norac replied.

"No, I mean where's the big force of Trandos? What happened to the huge invasion army they were supposed to have? If _that_ was here they'd just overrun the militia and drive them away."

"I don't know," Norac said. "Maybe the rest of their forces are split up patrolling the city."

"I'm just saying it doesn't make much sense to-"

The loud report of a shotgun blast cut her off and Brianna spun around just in time to see the woman crumple to the ground. Droun cursed and unslung his huge battle hammer from across his back. He hefted it to shoulder-level and shouted, "Ambush!"

Trandoshans began pouring out of every building Brianna could see. There had to be hundreds of them, all hissing and drooling and rushing at Brianna and the Berserkers.

Norac's shield was instantly strapped over his forearm and he charged into battle. He slammed his shield against an onrushing Trando Hunter and buried the head of his axe into another's chest.

Brianna drew her pistols and unleashed a storm of blaster fire at the enemies that scrambled toward her. No matter how many she managed to fell, however, it seemed that three more took its place. The lizards drew closer and closer, until she was backpedaling frantically in an attempt to stay out of reach. A Trando Minor slashed at her with its daggers and she fired the last three bolts in her pistols into its chest.

She cursed and holstered the weapons. Desperate, she grabbed for the lightsaber Cin had given her and unclipped it from her belt. The bright blue blade erupted from the hilt with a loud _snap-hiss_, throwing pale bluish shadows over the onrushing enemies.

She brought the blade down across a Trando's chest, the blade leaving a red-hot slash in its wake. As the lizard fell, she spun, whirling her saber over her head and slashing across another Trando's stomach. She spun the blade in blinding arcs in front of her, the glowing bar of energy making the darkness around her light up like a nightclub with strobe lights. She brought the saber up and sliced a Trando dagger in half before plunging the shimmering blade into its body and knocking it away with a boot to its leathery face.

"_Aruetii_!" she heard Norac shout over the din of battle. "We have to fall back!"

"No!" she shouted back, slamming the lightsaber hilt into a lizard's face. "Cin is close and I'm not going to give up now!"

"We are all going to die if we don't retreat!"

Brianna cursed as she saw even more Trandoshans pouring out of the buildings in the street ahead. The entire road in front of her was a sea of greenish skin and flashing reptilian eyes.

A shotgun blast caught her in the shoulder, jerking her body to one side. She cursed and stumbled back, holding her dented and mangled shoulder pad as she sheathed the lightsaber and scooped up a shotgun from the ground. Aiming with one hand, she raised the weapon and discharged it again and again into the mass of approaching enemies. Trandos fell left and right but their advance never slowed. Her shotgun clicked empty after what seemed like only moments.

"_Fierfek_!" she shouted furiously, then threw the weapon aside. She turned and sprinted down the street after Norac and Droun, who were supporting a feebly limping Beten between them.

After several hectic minutes of retreating through the twisting roads of the military base, they emerged out onto the main street again. Brianna saw a line of militia officers with rifles aimed right at them and she shouted, "Down!"

She threw her arms out and shoved Norac and Droun to their hands and knees. They sprawled to the concrete as she threw herself to the duracrete pavement. She heard a voice shout, "_Open fire_!" and the street exploded into a storm of blaster bolts.

Brianna squinted against the flashing lights and shouted, "We need to get out of here!"

Norac punched Droun's muscular shoulder and said, "Take Beten's shield!"

As the huge man moved to grab the convex _beskar _shield, Norac shouted, "_Aruetii_! Get Beten! Take cover behind our shields!"

Droun grabbed the shield and struggled to his feet, roaring, "Friendlies, coming through! _Aruetii _militia troopers, stop shooting, damn it!"

A corridor between the officers opened up as they shuffled to allow the Protectors to move behind them. Droun and Norac turned around as Brianna slung Beten's limp arm across her shoulders.

The two Berserkers fought to rise to their feet, slamming their round shields down in front of them so the edges overlapped and created a short wall of _beskar_. Sprays of shotgun pellets ricocheted off the impenetrable surface with loud detonations of sound.

"Come on, Beten," Brianna muttered, hauling the woman to her feet. The Berserker woman's cloth tank top was stained a deep crimson with blood. "Up you get. We have to get out of here."

She stood, making sure to stay below the cover of the Berserker shields. She winced as a shotgun blast rang out over her head. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Norac and Droun slowly backing up, careful not to let the overlapping edges of their shields slip and give the Trandos an opening.

It was a few tense moments before Brianna managed to half-drag Beten to the line of militia troopers. She let the woman fall limply to the ground and shouted, "Medic! We need a medic!"

An officer on the firing line glanced in their direction before abandoning his position and sprinting toward them. Brianna caught a glimpse of a red medical cross on a pack on his belt before he knelt next to Beten and said, "What happened?"

"She took a shotgun spray to the chest," Brianna explained. Now that she could see Beten clearly, she knew that the woman would be lucky if she survived. Her chest was a mess of blood and she was struggling weakly as the medic pressed two fingers to her wrist and took her pulse.

"She's not doing well," the man muttered. He unzipped the pack on his belt and pulled out a hypospray. He studied it a moment, then uncapped the needle and moved to insert it into Beten's arm. The woman let out a shout as the needle touched her skin and erupted into a blur of motion, lashing out with a fist and punching the man in the face. He cried out in pain and surprise and fell back, clutching his bleeding nose.

Brianna caught the woman's wrist as she tried to punch her as well and said, "Beten! Beten, calm down. Calm down, no one is trying to hurt you."

The woman let out a wheezing cough and pressed a hand to her bleeding chest. "I… beg… to differ."

The medic clambered to his feet again and cursed, holding a hand to his bleeding nose. "Damn. What did you do that for?"

Beten glared at him, breathing hard. "I don't… like… needles."

"I'll keep that in mind," he said. He glanced at Brianna and said, "Do me a favor? Hold her attention for a second."

"Why?"

"I need to take her blood pressure and she needs to be focused on something other than her wound. Just talk to her or something."

She nodded and said, "Hey Beten? Beten, look at me."

The woman focused her watering eyes on Brianna and gasped, "What… the hell do you want?"

"You, er… you fought well today," she said. "How many Trando kills have you gotten?"

The woman chuckled weakly. "Less… than I would like."

"How many?"

She shook her head and looked away. "I… I don't remember."

"Beten? Beten, look at me."

The woman slowly turned her cold gaze on Brianna again. "What do you want?"

"Er… Well…" Brianna suddenly found nothing to hold the Berserker's attention. She glanced at the medic for help.

She didn't need it; the man suddenly plunged the needle into Beten's arm and injected the medicine inside the hypospray. The woman shouted in surprise and pain and punched him in the face again. He shouted again and fell back, his lip now cut.

Brianna grabbed Beten's wrist and said, "Hey! Calm down!"

"The bastard!" Beten gasped, holding her arm. "That _aruetii_ bastard!"

"You're welcome," the man said, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the pavement. "You'll probably pull through now."

Beten fell back with an exhausted sigh and muttered, "What was that?"

"Low-grade Nanomeds," the man said, tucking the hypospray back into his pack. "Microscopic driods that will heal you from the inside. You should be fine in a few hours-"

With an enraged shout Beten struggled to her hands and knees and launched herself at the medic. Brianna started and grabbed the woman around the waist before she could punch the man again.

"What's your problem now?" he demanded.

"How _dare _you put your little robots inside me!" Beten shouted. "How _dare_ you force your technology on me when I can't fight back!"

"What's her problem?" the man asked Brianna.

"Oh," she sighed. "She's part of a group that sort of dislikes modern technology. You'll notice that she isn't carrying a blaster or a comlink."

"Fierfek," the man muttered. "You are really an odd group of people. One minute you rush out like you want to get killed, then you attack a guy when he tries to help you."

"I'll try and calm her down," Brianna said. "You can go."

"Keep her from moving too much," he said. "Give the nanomeds time to work."

"I will."

She looked down at Beten, who was scratching at the tiny wound where the medic had injected her. Her face was pulled down in a furious scowl as she muttered, "Damn _aruetiise_, injecting me with _shabla_ bugs."

"They aren't bugs. They're microscopic droids that-"

"They're damn _insects_. I can feel the little buggers, scratching and tickling me from the inside. It's like being dropped on a hill of Crawlers."

"It's your imagination," Brianna said. "You can't feel nanomeds."

She put a bloody palm to her chest and coughed. "I'm going to die, aren't I?"

"Don't be ridiculous. You're already talking better."

"If I was really getting better," she growled, "I'd have my trident in one hand and my shield in the other."

"You're mad," Brianna chuckled. "You're going to kill yourself."

"Better to die in battle… than to snuff it lying on the pavement without so much as a weapon in my hand."

Brianna hesitated, then unholstered one of her blasters. She reloaded the antique weapon and handed it to Beten. "Here. Take this."

The Berserker woman narrowed her eyes. "That's one of your fancy laser guns. I'm not going to use that."

"It's old. Does that help?"

She sniffed. "A little. How old?"

"At least sixty years."

"It's still a little modern."

"By how many years?"

"A couple thousand."

Brianna sighed and set the pistol on the ground next to Beten. "I'm going to go help Norac and Droun. If you need it, the gun is right there."

Then she stood and strode toward the battlefield. She looked over her shoulder after a few moments and hid a grin when she saw Beten warily pick up the gun and turn it over in her hands.

Then she sprinted up to the front line, where the police officers were struggling to hold the Trandoshans back.

"Damn it!" shouted a man Brianna recognized as Barrage. "The karkin' lizards just keep coming!"

Cyclone shouted an order in his strange, lilting language. The line of militia troops fanned out, increasing the area they covered. They couched behind old traffic barricades that were marked with the burns of hundreds of shotgun blasts. Norac and Droun were fighting among the Trandoshan lines, using their shields to block the incoming fire and bashing and hacking away at the lizards with their weapons.

"What's the situation?" Brianna shouted to Barrage over the roar of shotgun and blaster fire.

The man cursed and shouted, "We're holding our ground, but we have limited ammo! Unless your boy can get that tower destroyed, we'll be cut off with no reinforcements!"

Brianna drew her remaining blaster and reloaded it with quick, practiced movements. She leveled the weapon and began firing at the Trandoshan lines. She knew now that Cin was out of her reach. She would help the enforcement militia as best she could but any hope of fighting her way into the military base was now long gone.

She had come this far; the rest was up to Cin.

* * *

Vhetin shook his head disbelievingly. "Governor Quor was the one who hired us in the first place. Why would he hire you?"

"We have it on good authority that Quor agreed to hire you mercenariess only while under duress," Gariss replied. "That fool of a Prime Minisster threatened to go over hiss head. He finally agreed."

"Why?" Jay demanded. "Why would he agree to this mess? And why in the hell would the Empire want to attack its own citizens?"

Gariss let out a hissing laugh. "You assk too many questions. If you were a sslaver, you would know to accept thesse occurrencess without quesstion. You take your jobss where you can get them."

"So they just let you attack?"

"There were conditionss. We had to agree to ssupply the Imperialss with ten percent of the slaves we captured. Ssome top-ssecret research-and-development project. Again, I didn't assk too many quesstions."

"You won't get away with this," Jay said.

Gariss and the other Trandoshans laughed. "Get away? We have hundreds of Trandoshanss sspread through the city. It doessn't matter how many Mandalorianss you have with you, we've won. We've taken thousandss of hostagess. We will make billionss of creditss on the sslave market. And what can you do to sstop uss from _getting away_?"

Jay tensed, as if she were planning to do something. Vhetin caught her gaze and just barely shook his head.

_No, _he thought, as if she could hear him. _There's too many. You'd be gunned down before you could even move._

He looked down at his _beskar _battle armor and narrowed his eyes. _But I won't_.

She seemed to read his mind and shook her head slightly as well, silently pleading with him not to. He stared at her, then pointedly looked away. He clenched the hands held behind his head into fists and watched Gariss as it turned away to talk to one of its underlings.

Once Garriss' attention was away from him, he seized his opportunity. He sprang to his feet, tackling the Trandoshan leader around the waist and driving them both to the surface of the support platform. The other Trandoshans hissed at him and aimed their shotguns.

Jay was a step ahead of them. She jumped to her feet and punched one Trando in the face, grabbing its wrist and forcibly aiming its weapon at another lizard. She jerked its hand back, mashing its finger against the shotgun's firing stud, and the targeted Trandoshan was blasted back right off the edge of the support platform. It disappeared with an echoing reptilian scream.

Vhetin rose to his knees and punched Gariss hard in the snout, breaking its leathery nose. Pain erupted through Vhetin's injured hand, but he made a conscious effort to ignore it. The Trando lizard snarled in pain and slashed at Vhetin's face with a long-taloned hand. Vhetin felt more material tear away from his face mask and the Trandoshan's claws dug into his face. He was flung away, tripping another Trando as he slammed into its legs.

Gariss stumbled to its feet, shaking its head as green blood poured from its nostrils. It hissed at its subordinates to attack.

Vhetin ignited his lightsaber, grabbing it with his uninjured hand. He kept his wounded hand close to his chest as a fat Minor waddled toward him with a screech. He slashed his saber up across the creature's chest and pivoted, planting a heavy boot in its back and sending it staggering off the edge of the platform. As the lizard disappeared with a scream, he turned and stabbed forward into a Hunter's stomach.

He saw Jay a few feet away, firing swiftly from a stolen Trandoshan shotgun. Her face was a mask of determination and her hair was blown about by the wind, making her look wild and uncontrolled like a Berserker. He saw a Trando attempt to sneak up on her and moved to assist her.

She was in control of the situation, though. She must have heard it coming, because she slammed her elbow into its stomach, knocking its breath out. Then she turned and whipped her shotgun across its snout hard enough to make it crumple where it stood.

Vhetin's attention was suddenly jerked back to his own fight as a Hunter leaped for him with a long-bladed dagger. He ducked a slash that would have taken his head off at the shoulders and drove his fist into the lizard's stomach before ripping up with his lightsaber and knocking it away.

There were only three Trandos left, two of them falling within moments. Vhetin kicked one in the chest and drove his armored knee into its face as it doubled over from the first blow, and Jay unloaded a full shell of shotgun ammo into the second. Soon it was only them against Gariss.

The Trando leader stared at them, its yellow eyes darting between them. Then it laughed and said, "You think you've won? You believe you've accomplished ssomething?"

"With you as a hostage," Vhetin said, taking a step forward and lowering his saber to a more neutral position, "the Trandoshans will have to leave Tachador. It's over Gariss."

"You forgot one thing," it snarled at them viciously and held up a scaly hand. Clenched in it was the detonator for the bomb Vhetin had placed earlier.

Vhetin moved before his mind could even begin to think twice. He jumped forward and slashed his saber up, intending to sever the Trandoshan's hand. It turned away, however, and the blade sliced open its left bicep. It hissed in pain and backpedaled out of reach. It reached behind its back and drew a vibrosword that lit up with a blaze of purple light. It roared and slashed at Vhetin, slamming his lightsaber away. It leaped forward and landed a kick to Vhetin's face.

As Vhetin staggered back, Jay leaped forward. Gariss anticipated her attack, however, because it spun and kicked her away as well. She went sprawling away, skidding dangerously close to the edge of the platform.

Vhetin jumped forward again and grabbed Gariss by the scaly throat. He hauled the Trando bodily into the air, turned, and slammed it into the tower behind them. He deactivated his lightsaber and clipped it to his belt, freeing his hand to grab the lizard's sword arm. He slammed his forehead into Gariss', disorienting it.

"Give me the detonator," Vhetin growled. When Gariss only hissed, he slammed his armored knee into its stomach and shouted, "Give me the detonator!"

"You…" Garris let out a gravelly chuckle and gasped, "you've losst. It'ss over."

Then he pressed the detonator's activation button. Vhetin cursed and threw the Trando leader away, looking up at the niche where he'd planted the bomb before turning to Jay. She was staring at him with a horrified expression.

"Cin…" she said quietly, "we're at least a eighty feet above the ground. There's… there's no way down."

Vhetin shook his head. "There's always a way out. We've got thirty seconds. Think of something!"

"What?" she cried. "You don't have your jetpack and it's not like we really have anywhere to go like back at the bank!"

Vhetin froze. The bank! Of course!

He didn't waste any time; he grabbed Gariss by the back of its collar, hauling it up to its feet. He shouted to Jay to step closer. She hesitantly did.

"What are you-"

That was all she managed to say before he grabbed her as well and dragged all three of them off the edge of the platform. He could hear both his partner and Gariss screaming as they plunged through the air, the wind howling around them. Vhetin quickly rotated while in free-fall, placing himself beneath them. His eyes watered from the air rushing past his face.

The comm tower exploded above them with a blinding flash of white light and an explosion so loud it left Vhetin's ears ringing even over the wind rushing around them. A concussive shockwave hit them as they fell, increasing the speed of their descent.

Vhetin could almost feel the ground approaching a moment before he hit. His entire body exploded in agony and he felt the duracrete give way underneath him with a tremendous _crack_! His armor took most of the force out of the fall, but his body still erupted into a wave of agony. His head hit the pavement hard and his vision exploded with stars.

Even through his blurry vision, however, he could see the comm tower above them as it was suddenly engulfed in a gigantic cloud of fire. A shockwave slammed into the three of them, blasting their faces like a sudden gust of wind. The support cables holding the tower snapped like string, ripping themselves from their housing with a tremendous tearing sound.

The entire tower wobbled in mid-air for a few moments, letting out a reverberating scream of tortured metal. Then it began to bend to one direction, curving gracefully before snapping at its base. The entire contraption collapsed into a group of buildings to the north, the cloud of debris from its fall shooting hundreds of feet into the air.

The remains of the support platform buckled as more and more cables snapped around its diameter. The central cylindrical pillar buckled, a cobweb-like mess of cracks darting along its surface. Vhetin saw it and cursed, thinking, _Oh _shab. _I didn't think about this part._

The pillar snapped in half, crumbling to the duracrete as the huge support platform plummeted to the street below. Jay screamed at the sight, trying to scramble to her feet and sprint for safety. He yanked himself out of the crater, grabbing her wrist and forcing both her and Gariss beneath him as he shielded them both with his body. A huge piece of rubble hit his back, shattering over his _beskar_ back plate, and he let out a shout of pain.

He looked over his shoulder and saw the platform hit the roofs of the buildings around them and shatter into thousands of pieces that plummeted straight for them. Then he squeezed his eyes shut and tightened his grip on Jay and Gariss as the world around them was plunged into darkness.

* * *

Bookworm was sitting alone in the computer room, compiling his reports on the events of the Trandoshan invasion's first week, when the comm unit burst into static.

He stared at it blankly, thinking, _no, that can't be right. It must be that damn audio receptor throwing white noise at me again_.

But after he'd adjusted the hearing aid's settings, the noise was still there. He frowned in confusion, then slid his chair over to the comm that had belonged to the Mandalorian. It was sputtering with static. And it wasn't the loud wash of static of the Trandoshan's comm jammer signal. This was the quiet buzz of a functioning comm channel.

He gingerly picked up the comm and turned it over in his hands. Once he was sure the noise wasn't some kind of trick, he slowly depressed the transmission button and whispered, "Hello? Hello, is anybody there?"

* * *

Brianna must have been more stressed out than she previously thought; she was beginning to hear voices in her head.

She reloaded her pistol, kicking an approaching Trandoshan in the face as she did, and instantly began firing into another lizard's chest. She was retreating as fast as she could, but the Trandos just kept swarming out of the base's perimeter. The huge explosion that had come from within the base a few moments before seemed to do nothing but galvanize the lizards to fight all the fiercer.

And to make things even more chaotic, she could hear a voice in her head whispering, _Is there anyone there? Is there anyone there?_

She scowled as she turned and sprinted further down the street, firing blindly over her shoulder.

_I must be losing it_, she thought. _If I have voices in my head, I wish they would at least say something useful._

As she reached a quieter part of the street, however, she realized that the voice wasn't coming from inside her head, but from her belt. She looked down and saw that her comm was glowing blue with an open transmission.

_The comlink?_ _What the hell is Cin doing trying to call _now_?_

She grabbed the comm and said, "Cin? Cin, is that you?"

"Who is this?" a voice said.

A Trandoshan Elite suddenly appeared out of nowhere, charging forward and slamming its muscular shoulder into Brianna's chest. She went flying back, sprawling onto the ruined surface of the street.

The Elite bellowed at her, beating its chest as it stomped toward her. She reached for her pistol, but before she could grasp its handle she heard a different group of voices let loose an otherworldly war cry.

With a shout, Norac barreled out of nowhere, grabbing the Elite around the waist and attempting to tackle it. The attack did little more than make the huge lizard take a surprised step back.

Droun suddenly appeared, slamming his massive hammer across the Elite's shout and making it shout and stagger in pain. The huge man tossed aside his hammer and grabbed one of the Elite's arms, adding his considerable strength to Norac's struggle. The Trandoshan still did not fall.

With a shout of rage Beten appeared, jumping up and wrapping her arms around the Trando's neck as she put all her weight into the struggle. The Elite finally staggered and fell to the ground. Beten scrambled onto its massive chest and – using the pistol Brianna had loaned her – unloaded a full magazine of blaster ammunition into its chest. The huge alien twitched and fell still. The Berserkers watched it for a moment, checking to make sure it was dead, then all three burst out laughing. Beten caught Brianna's gaze and nodded slightly. Brianna nodded back, glad that the Berserker woman was feeling better.

Then she scrambled to her hands and feet and grabbed the comlink again.

"Hello?" she said. "Hello, are you still there?"

"Hello?" the other voice said bewilderedly. "Who is this?"

"Brianna Bellan," she said suspiciously. This was definitely not Cin. "Who am I speaking to?"

"Are you with the Mandalorians?"

"Yes."

There was a pause over the comm, then the man on the other end said, "I have a message for you."

* * *

"What's going on?"

Jaing shook his head. "I don't know. It almost looks like the comms are working again."

"It looks like?" Rame echoed, cocking his head. "Do we have a signal or don't we?"

Jaing shrugged studying the bulky comm equipment. He scratched the stubble on his head and muttered, "I can't explain it. One second we're getting nothing but Trando static and the next-"

The comm suddenly sputtered and an accented voice began speaking. "Hello? Jaing, can you read me? Is anyone there?"

Rame took a step forward, frowning intently. "Is that… _Brianna_?"

"If there's anyone there," the voice said, "pick up the damn comm _now_."

There was a sudden burst of blaster fire over the transmission and she shouted, "_Now_!"

Jaing scrambled for the transmitter mike and said, "Brianna? Brianna, is that you?"

"That's right," she replied. "We need reinforcements! Send _everyone_!"

Jaing glanced at Rame, who nodded and sprinted away to inform Shysa that their comms were back. Then he turned back to the mike and said, "Okay, _vod'ika_, we're coming to help. Where the hell are you?"

* * *

Over the next hour, the Trandoshans were beaten back across the military base that had once been the center of their power in Tandori. Mandalorian Protectors and their Tachadori Warrior companions showed up in force, joining forces with the police forces and clearing the area. There were several pockets of Trandoshan resistance, but they were quickly overpowered by the superior firepower and training of the Supercommandos.

After only a few hours, the entire base was clear, the majority of the lizards were cornered and the rest were retreating. Now that the jammer was destroyed, the Mandalorians had a much easier time organizing a counteroffensive.

The most difficult area to secure was just under the ruins of the destroyed jamming tower. The place was a mess of twisted metal girders, support cables, and crushed building rubble. The police officers that were patrolling the area said the Empire would probably need millions of credits to repair the damage to the base. Many Mandalorians replied that the Protectors weren't called in to be subtle.

Brianna had informed patrols moving through the area of the jamming tower to keep an eye out for Vhetin and Jay, but they had so far turned up nothing. While searching through the rubble almost directly underneath the ruins of the tower, however, one of the patrols saw a clatter of debris cascading down the hill of tower debris. When the moved to investigate they found something attempting to push upward through the pile. They trained their rifles on the pile and watched as a gloved hand, torn almost to shreds, broke through the pile and began frantically waving about.

"Check it," one of the Mandos said, gesturing to it with his rifle. Trayc Ramser stepped forward, hoping his search had finally succeeded. Like Brianna, he knew exactly who was lost in this sector of the city.

_Vhetin and his partner saved my _shebs _back in that bank_, he thought, hefting his sniper rifle. _It's about time I returned the favor. I hate owing people debts anyway._

He knelt next to the hand and grasped it firmly, pulling upward with all his strength. With a clatter of rubble, a battered woman was yanked up out of the pile. Her face was cut and bruised and her long brown hair was a wild, tangled mess. She fell to her hands and knees, coughing as she wiped dust from her face.

"You all right, _aruetii_?" Ramser asked, kneeling next to the woman.

She nodded and coughed again, rubbing her throat. "I'm fine."

The next being to be pulled out of the rubble was a battered, gasping Trandoshan Hunter. The Protectors yanked it up out of the rubble and trained their weapons on it.

"Isn't that Gariss?" one of them said.

"The Trando leader? _Shab_, I think it is. How'd the _aruetii_ manage to get her hands on the bastard?"

Another wounded figure clambered up out of the rubble, bleeding and gasping. His green-red armor was dinged and dirty, spattered with both Trandoshan and Human blood. The black face mask over his face was torn to shreds, with tufts of brown hair sticking through holes in the top of the mask. The front of the mask was almost completely torn to shreds, but the man's face was bloody enough to make identification next to impossible. He collapsed onto his stomach and cursed.

"Who the hell are you?" one of the Protectors said. "And what the hell are you doing with a Trandoshan?"

"It's okay, _vod_," Ramser said, gesturing for the man to calm down. He knelt next to the man and said, "Vhetin? Mind explaining what you're doing with the _Trando'alor_ with you?"

"Get it… to a safe location," the man gasped, rolling over and revealing chestplates that were stained with blood and a right hand that looked like it had taken a serious short-range shotgun blast.

Vhetin spat out a mouthful of blood. "It has… information about the deployment. Shysa needs to hear what it has to say."

Ramser glanced to his companions, then nodded and ordered them to do as Vhetin said. He looked back at the man, who looked like he was quickly slipping into unconsciousness.

"Hold on, _vod_," he said, putting a hand on Vhetin's shoulder pad. "We'll get you to the medics. You're going to be okay."

He caught the Ramser's arm in a vise-like grip and gasped, "Wait… did we win? Is it over?"

He nodded. "The Trandos are being pushed back as we speak. The _chakaare_ won't be able to hold so much as a city block by the end of the day. The city is safe."

Vhetin nodded, then collapsed. Ramser stared at him, then ordered the Protectors to help the bounty hunter and his partner to an evac zone.


	7. Epilogue

Epilogue

**Twenty-four hours after Trandoshan defeat**

Governor Quor sat at his plush desk, reading damage reports and approving requests for reconstruction funding. The Senate was very displeased with the amount of damage to Tandori, but he had assured the Emperor and the Senators that Tandori's manufacturing plants would be up and running within the month.

Adulal's lip curled as he watched the traitor go about his business like his betrayal had meant nothing. His glowing yellow eyes flashed and he purposely left his weapon leaned up against the wall as he strode through the doors into Quor's office.

The Governor looked up with an expression of surprise at the Prime Minister's entrance. Adulal didn't blame the human for his shock; his dark purple robes were scorched, dirty, and splattered with Trandoshan blood. The dark battle armor he wore beneath his armor was scratched and worn he had several cuts and bruises on his purple-skinned face.

"Prime Minister," Quor said, feigning nonchalance. "I assume you disobeyed my direct orders and traveled into the battlefield?"

"I did," Adulal boomed. "When it became clear that you would not do what was necessary, dear Governor."

He folded his arms across his chest and said, "And when it became even more evident that you had betrayed my people, I knew it was the correct choice."

"Betrayed?" Quor chuckled nervously. "What are you-"

"Do not play games with me, Governor." Adulal took a step forward and placed his large hands on Quor's desk. He narrowed his yellow eyes and growled, "Why did you do it? Why did you hire the Trandoshans to attack my city?"

Quor stared at him for a long time, then sighed and set aside his stylus. He gestured to his assistant and said, "Yarin, leave us."

The young man saluted and silently hurried out of the room. Adulal eased himself into the chair opposite Quor's desk, smoothing out the folds in his charred robe calmly. Inside, he was using every ounce of his considerable self-control to keep himself from launching across the desk and attacking the Governor.

"I ask again: why did you hire the Trandoshans to attack my city?"

Quor unhurriedly stacked the sheets of flimsiplast he had been surveying. He looked perfectly calm save for the pale hue of his skin. He set aside the flimsi and folded his hands, staring at Adulal for a long time. Eventually he sighed and said, "Imperial Intelligence put out a request a few months ago, sending the information through only the most secretive channels. They needed several thousand human test subjects for some top-secret project they had their research-and-development branch working on. They gave it some ridiculous name… Operation Whiteclaw or something like that. Either way, no one was willing to fill the request because a demand for that many test subjects was ridiculous. But Intelligence was offering a substantial reward for anyone who could respond to the request: several hundred million credits."

"And the money was just too compelling?" another voice said. Adulal turned to find the Mandalorian leader, Fenn Shysa, leaning casually against the doorframe of the Governor's office. He was wearing full body armor that – like Adulal's robe – was scorched and splashed with blood. He had his helmet removed, revealing messy blond hair and a weary face that was bruised and cut in several places. As Adulal watched, the man pushed away from the door and strode into the room.

"I can't say as I'm surprised, mate," the man shrugged. "You are, after all, an _aruetii_."

Quor stood quickly and snapped, "Don't you _dare_ condescend to me, mercenary. I wasn't taking the money for _myself_. It was to be used to better all of Tachador!"

"It was paid for by thousands of innocent lives," Adulal said quietly.

"It was supposed to look like an _invasion!_" Quor cried, throwing his hands up in the air. "It was supposed to be a disaster that we could use as a magnificent public relations event! Imagine the billions _more_ credits we could gather from outside donations! Any damage done could be paid for a thousand times over!"

Shysa narrowed his eyes. "Is that all you can focus on? The creds? Thousands have been _kidnapped_. Others are _dead_."

Quor glared at him. "For any kind of progress, there must be sacrifices. And the greater the progress, the greater the sacrifice."

Shysa chuckled and shook his head. "And you call us _Mando'ade_ savages."

"Do not lecture me on ethics, mercenary."

"I'll lecture you on whatever the bloody hell I feel like!" Shysa said, his voice suddenly full of rage. He stepped forward, his eyes flashing. "If you want to sell your citizens to Trandos as slaves, go right ahead, mate. But you got _my_ lads involved in this. _My lads_ died to save a city that _you_ sold out in the first place!"

He folded his gauntleted arms and said, "So I ask you, what in the _hell_ am I supposed to tell their families? What should I tell their wives or husbands, their sons and daughters? That they died to solidify _your_ alibi?"

"That is not my concern," Quor said, sitting down at his desk again. "The reward money has been transferred and is already being used to rebuild Tandori. It's over."

"You are correct," Adulal said with a weary sigh. He looked down at his lap and echoed, "It is over."

Quor nodded in satisfaction. "I knew you would see it my way. What happened to Tandori is tragic, to be sure. But it was also necessary in order to further better our world."

"That is not what I meant," Adulal said. He gracefully stood and adjusted his robes again as two lines of white-armored stormtroopers marched through the doors into Quor's office. The soldiers fanned out and leveled their rifles at the Governor.

"Governor Quor," Adulal boomed, "as of this moment you are forcibly removed from office. Your crimes against Tandori, against Tachador, and against the Empire itself cannot go unpunished. You will spend the remainder of your short human lifespan in a detention facility as punishment for this heinous crime."

Quor stood from his desk, fast enough to knock over the chair behind him. "What? No! No, I did this to _help_ Tachador! You can't do this!"

"It has already been done," Adulal said. He gestured to Shysa, who held up a tiny holocam recorder hooked to his gauntlet. "Our entire conversation has been aired before a special meeting of the Senate. The Emperor himself has called for your immediate arrest."

The stormtroopers moved in, one of them unclipping a pair of binders from his belt. Quor glanced at them all fearfully, crying, "No! No, I only did what was best for-"

He swiftly fell silent as a stormtrooper pressed a blaster against his chest. The soldier cocked his helmeted head and said, "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to stop struggling. Resistance from arrest will be met with lethal force."

As the Governor was led from the room, Shysa stepped in front of him and quietly said, "Consider yourself lucky, _vod_. My lads were considering stringin' you up by your _gettse_ and parading you up and down the F.O.B. And that's just them gettin' started."

He stepped back, narrowing his eyes. "Next time – if there even is a next time for you – try to remember who you're double-crossin'. _Ke nu'jurkadir sha Mando'ade, aruetii._"

Then Quor was lead out of the room, leaving Adulal and Shysa in silence. The Mandalorian leader stared after the Governor for a long time before sighing and rubbing his weary eyes.

"So," he said, "I guess this is it. What'll you do know that the attack is over?"

"The real work is only beginning, I am afraid. Now that Governor Quor's treachery has been revealed, I have been appointed Governor in his stead."

"Congratulations. I guess that means you get all that money Quor was talkin' about?"

"That is correct. And every nanocredit of it will be spent tracking down and rescuing the poor souls the Trandoshans managed to take hostage."

"Sounds like quite a task. Good luck, I suppose."

Adulal bowed his head. "I thank you. And I will not forget the services the Mandalorians have lent to my people in this time of crisis. I stand humbled before your generosity."

Shysa cleared his throat. "Ahem. Yeah, well it wasn't exactly all generosity..."

"Do not worry, my friend. You will be paid the amount specified when you and your soldiers first accepted my request. The financial officers are completing the transaction as we speak."

The human nodded, satisfied. "Good. At least that oughta put some spring back in my lads' steps."

He bowed graciously and said, "_Jate vencuyot_, Prime Minister. And I mean this in the most respectful way possible, but I hope I never see you again."

Adulal chuckled and nodded. "The same to you, my friend."

Shysa smiled, then turned and strode out of the room. Adulal looked around the office for a long moment, then sighed and settled in behind the former Governor's desk.

The Mandalorians' part in this tale may be finished, but his work was far from over.

* * *

**Keldabe Assault Cruiser _Hodayc_, en route to Mandalore**

Brianna stood in the central hangar bay of the _Hodayc_, near the repulsor treads of one of the Canderous tanks that had survived the deployment. She was turning her comlink over and over in her hands, watching absently as several Mandalorians began a round of the _Dha Werda Verda_, a traditional Mando victory dance. It started out with just two Protectors beginning the quick, sharp moves of the dance, pounding their chest plates and stomping their heavy boots against the durasteel floor. But the movements drew more and more attention from across the hangar bay and many Mandos joined in the dance.

"_Gra-'tua," _the Mandos began chanting, "_cuun-hett-su-dralshya! Kom-'rk-tsad-drot-en-troch-nyn-ures-adenn!"_

As the group swelled to more than ten soldiers, several Berserkers hesitantly joined the others, falling into the dance flawlessly. They pounded their unarmored chests and received powerful blows from other Mandalorians without even flinching. Other Mandos watched from the sidelines, laughing and clapping along to the beat. Several Berserkers – Brianna saw Beten among them – set their round shields on their laps and began pounding out the short, staccato beat of the chant.

Droun lumbered over and began beating his chest along with the rest. When the time came, he reached over and slammed a fist against the armored Protector standing next to him. The man was knocked clean off his feet, crashing to the ground in a clatter of armor plating. The chant paused for a moment while Mandalorians looked toward the source of the sound. Then they all threw their hands over their head and cheered. The fallen Mandalorian clambered to his feet, laughing his head off.

Brianna cracked the slightest of smiles, but refrained from joining the dance herself. Though there were a few Mando-centric _aruetiise_ who were dancing along, she didn't think it was entirely proper for her to join in. Besides, she was waiting for someone and she sure as hell wasn't going to miss him now.

Jay appeared through a nearby access door, her forehead bandaged and her right leg in a cast. She was walking with a crutch, but she looked like she would pull through. She spotted Brianna and limped over to her.

"Hey there," she said. "I heard about your own little adventure during the deployment. I'm impressed that you were able to track us so efficiently. I thought we had been a little sneakier than that."

Brianna shrugged, adjusting her heavy neck guard. "I'm a bounty hunter. It's what I do."

Jay cocked her head, then winced as she put stress on her strained neck. "You sound upset."

Brianna sighed and shook her head. "Just tired. And homesick."

"We should be back in a few hours," Jay said, trying to comfort her.

"Yeah. You haven't seen Cin, have you?"

"I heard the medics just let him out of surgery," Jay said, resting herself against the tank's repulsor tread. "He should be right behind me. I bet he'll be pretty happy to see you."

Brianna was silent. Jay seemed to sense the woman's discomfort, because she cleared her throat and said, "Well, I guess I'm going to see if I can find Wad'e or Denton."

"That enforcement officer?"

"Yeah," Jay said, brightening a little. "We've been talking a bit since he helped me out with Suirotnoc. He's a nice guy."

Again, Brianna remained silent. Jay glanced at her, then limped away. "I'll see you."

She kept her eyes on the door leading into the hangar bay. The quick beat of the _Dha Werda Verda _pounded on in the background, but she didn't pay it any mind. Her mind was a storm of emotions, most of them negative.

In the entire twenty-four hour span since the Mandalorians had gained the upper hand of the counteroffensive, she still hadn't even caught a glimpse of Cin. After being rescued by the Mando patrol he had been rushed to the _Hodayc_'s medbay, which was currently overcrowded with casualties and had no room for visitors. She didn't even know how wounded he was. All she knew was that he had been almost directly underneath the support platform when it collapsed and had used his _beskar _body armor as a shield to try to block the brunt of the damage to Jay and Garriss. His wounds were extensive enough that he needed to have at least five different surgeries, but she didn't know the outcome. Normally, Rame probably would have insisted that he operate on Cin and she could have asked him. But he had been asked by Shysa to help the other medics in their duties and was therefore just as confused as Brianna was.

To say that she was nervous to see Cin again was an understatement. She had been waiting to see him for days now, ever since she'd heard he'd gone missing at the bank. She had thought about this moment every second for the past two days, and now she was only seconds away from seeing him again…

The entrance doors to the hangar bay slid open with a buzz of hydraulics and a figure in a Protector-issue cloth uniform limped through. His arm was bound up in a sling and his face was covered by a brand new cloth facemask.

Brianna stared at him for a heartbeat before sprinting to him, her heart pounding. He looked up at her and his shoulders slumped in relief. He looked just as glad to see her as she was to see him.

She came to a halt in front of him, looking him up and down. He had a cast on his left leg and his shirt was bulky from other bandages wrapped around his chest and stomach.

He chuckled and said, "Yeah. I look like a Korriban mummy, but the doc says I'm going to be fine in a couple weeks. It's incredible what these modern bacta treatments can do."

She stared at him, suddenly not feeling the slightest bit of relief or happiness at seeing him. All of a sudden, the only thing she could think about was all the suffering and worry he had put her through in the past few days. She remembered the fear when she'd thought he was dead, the embarrassment when Dala had caught her repurposing the spaceport's comm equipment. Beten's words from their earlier conversation floated to the forefront of her mind.

_I'm no expert_, she had said, _but it seems to me like he doesn't really care. I'm surprised you still put up with his _osik_._

It almost looked like he _didn't_ care; she could see it in the way he was looking at her now. He was glad to see her, sure. But there was no hint of apology in his eyes, no trace of guilt or remorse for leading her on a wild bantha chase across a war zone. It was the attitude she had come to expect from him, the attitude of _I'm the invincible Cin-kriffing-Vhetin and if you don't have the _gettse _to keep up with my reckless behavior that's your fault not mine._

She didn't feel any happiness to know that her boyfriend was safe; instead she felt nothing but a powerful, heated rage that seemed to boil up from some deep place inside her. She couldn't explain it, but right now he was the _last _person she wanted to see.

He must have noticed her expression, because his masked face pulled down in a frown. She could see the confusion in his dark blue eyes as he said, "Bri? What's wrong?"

_What's wrong_? she thought. _What's wrong_?

"Do you have any idea what I've been through the past few days?" she whispered furiously. "Do you have _any _idea what I did to try and find you again?"

"N-no," he slowly said.

"I risked my _life_ to find you and you couldn't so much as leave me a single clue that would lead me to where you were? Damn it Cin, I didn't even know if you were _alive_ for the first day of this deployment!"

"I didn't know you would be looking for me."

"Oh, of course. And why in the hell would I be searching for you? I mean, you're only my kriffing _boyfriend_, aren't you?"

"Bri-"

"_Don't_…" she said, closing her eyes and looking away. "Don't call me that. I am sick of your prancing about like you're some lonely, misunderstood warrior and completely ignoring me. I am _sick_ of trying to help you and comfort you while you give me nothing in return but misery and worry."

She looked him in the eyes and scowled. "And you know what? I'm sick of _you_."

He stared at her, blinking silently in surprise. He cleared his throat and said, "Um… wow. I'm not sure what to say to that."

She stared at him, scowling even deeper. His voice had taken on that extremely quiet tone that he adopted when he was angered and defensive. It infuriated her.

"I'm sorry, I guess," he said, glaring at her. "But I never asked for your help. I managed to make it out alive without you, so I guess it's safe to say I didn't _need_ your help."

His words simultaneously enraged and wounded her. The two emotions mixed, whirling about in her mind until she lost control and the unthinkable happened.

She slapped him.

The _crack_ of her palm hitting the side of his face seemed to echo in the hangar bay. His face was jerked to one side and he let out a slight grunt of surprise. She stood in front of him, fists clenched, breathing hard, feeling simultaneous feelings of shock and justification.

She stared at him for a moment more before brushing past him and striding away. She turned her back to him so she wouldn't see that deep blue gaze of his, no doubt filled with surprise and that wounded look whenever he knew he'd said too much, and instantly regret what she had just done.

She noticed that the sound of the slap had caused the _Dha Werda Verda_ to stop. Many of the Mandalorians that knew either her or Cin were staring at her with surprise or raised eyebrows. She ignored them all.

Beten followed Brianna's progress across the hangar bay, lounging casually on the treads of a tank. The Berserker woman caught Brianna's gaze and nodded slightly in approval. Brianna didn't pay her any mind and instead strode out of the hangar bay.

_I did the right thing_, she thought. _He needs to know that he's not the center of the universe. That he's not the center of _my _universe_.

_Not anymore._

* * *

**Ruins of Trandoshan jamming tower, forty-eight hours after Mandalorian departure from Tandori**

A dark figure strode down the blasted, ruined street of the military base. He stopped at a T-junction in the road, debated for a moment, then turned down the left path.

If his intel was correct, he'd find what he was looking for here, near the piles of rubble and twisted metal that used to be the Trandoshan jamming tower. He was optimistic; after all, he had never been wrong in the past.

It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for. To the untrained eye, the pile of rubble in front of him looked like any other area of the war-torn city. But to him, it was the location of his next lead.

The Tracker knelt next to the small hole in the pile of rubble where the Mandalorian Protectors had pulled out two of their own: Cin Vhetin, and the new partner of his. They had also captured the Trandoshan leader Gariss, revealing the Empire's part in the attack on Tandori and leading to the arrest of Governor Quor.

His thin lips twitched slightly in a sneer. Quor had been an efficient puppet, to be sure, but he had no place in the organization for which he had been working. He must have known that.

He slowly reached into the hole, tracing his fingertips around the various chunks of rubble. Eventually he pulled out a chunk of twisted durasteel that was splashed with dark red blood.

He reached inside his long coat and pulled out a handheld scanner, taking a reading on the blood. It came back positive, proving that it belonged to his target.

Satisfied, he stood and tossed the rubble aside. He set a holotransmitter down on a passably flat piece of rubble and took a few steps back.

With a sputter, the glowing blue hologram of Darth Vader sprang to life before him. The Dark Lord rested his fists on his hips and surveyed the Tracker with a gaze that he could almost feel, even though the two were millions of light-years away.

"Report," Vader demanded.

"I've found him," the Tracker replied, tucking his hands casually into his pockets. "He was deployed here with the Supercommandos. It looks like he was pretty badly wounded, and that means he's returning to Mandalore for the foreseeable future."

"Good," the Dark Lord said with a rasping breath. "You have permission to move in. But remember to take him _alive_. The entirety of Project Whiteclaw depends on it."

The Tracker nodded. "I'll do my best."

"Do not fail me."

With those menacing words, Vader flickered out of existence and the Tracker stooped to pick up his transmitter. He tucked it back onto his belt and looked up at the stars that were just beginning to sparkle in the sky. Somewhere out there was Mandalore, and his quarry.

From all he'd heard of this Cin Vhetin, he was quite a character. He was infamous for his advanced combat skills that, when combined with his anti-Imperial sentiments, made him a very dangerous foe. He was known to work for several known terrorists, including Prince Xizor, Jabba the Hutt, and Sekha. He had killed hundreds if not thousands of Imperial citizens and didn't show inclinations of stopping any time soon. Vader was tired of his meddling, and had decided to deal with him once and for all.

"No more leniency, Vhetin," he murmured. "Here comes the Empire, ready or not."

_To be continued in Star Wars: White Snow: Revelation…_


End file.
